Yin and Yang
by Cauryn Terenkey
Summary: ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
1. Chapter 1

**Yin and Yang**

Rain pounded down on the uncertain ninja who stood in a cricle around the fallen girl. They muttered amung themselves, making no effort to help her or finish her off.

"Do you regognize the headband?"

"Who is she?"

"Is she with Orochimaru?"

"What if she's a missing nin?"

"No way, at her age?"

"I heard that some ninja can become anbu at her age."

"What the hell are you all waiting for? kill her! She's an unknown enemy!" Someone barked, raising his sword.

"Then we should capture her. Not kill her." Said a smoother voice. The rain pounded down for a few more seconds. Then a ninja moved forward, unraveling some rope to tie her hands. He bent down to get one hand from her face, and froze as he saw a flash of silver.

"She's playing possom!" He yelled frantically, huryying to restrain the girl. She was too fast, and she was out of any ninja's reach soon enough.

"Like i'd kill you weasls..." She muttered as she turned to go. She was gone seconds later. A flash of light and the ninja's eyes became glazed over as a soft pink gas rose about them. "Sorry boy's, I can't let you remember seeing me." she said, then leapt away. She was injured and she knew it, but she needed to reach her Hidden Vilage. It was so small and discreate, that none of the other Hidden Vilages knew of it. On her gloves and her forehead protector, was the symbol of a yin-yang.

------------------------------------------

you'll have to forgive me. i'm a new Naruto fan and this idea has been playing back and forth in my mind. i don' tknow if i will continue this story though, i haven't read enough of the manga to get much of the story, so, yeeeeah... I hope you liked it. and i kinda had the feeling i was making the dudes around her the Akatsuki, i don't think they're with Orochimaru...

anyway, if if have any spelling errors, please let me know :) Toodles!


	2. Chapter 2

Yin and Yang

_**(i'll warn you all now, i'm using parts of the manga for the script here, and if it sounds bad, it's because i'm new to Naruto fic's as i've stated before. this story begins where Sasuke is creating his own group to go after Itachi, and where Naruto and Sakura are being breifed by Tsunande about Sasuke's actions. i Do hope it's alright... ;)**_

Naruto woke up feeling worse than he ever had. He sat up, cursing the dead Akatsuki members in his head. The Rasen Shuriken wore him out so easily still.

"Damn..." He muttered as he got up. He moved to the bathroom to wash his face, reluctantly thankfull for the break Tsunade had given the two teams.

As he splashed cold water on his face, he couldn't help but wonder what Sasuke was doing now. Naruto smiled as he dried his face with the rough towel hanging near by. It was kind of ironic that the three old-friends had been trained by one of the Three Ninja's each.

Naruto then moved to the kitchen for his 'breakfast', when someone started knocking on his door. to his surprise, Sakura was standing there, looking a mite flustered.

"What'cha here for so early, Sakura? We do have the day off, remember?"

"Umm, Naruto, it's afternoon already..." Sakura said, sighing at this helplessness. "Anyhow, get dressed, Tsunande want's to see us." She sat on the railing outside his door as Naruto closed it, pouting slightly at the answer to his unaksed question. It seemed he'd NEVER have a date with Sakura...

--------

"So, all we need to do is find Uchiha Itachi, right?" Naruto asked. Tsunade nodded.

"Exactly, but once you find him, what will you do?"

"one platoon wont work, obviously." Kakashi said. Naruto looked over.

"Huh?"

"Well, our only choice would be to capture Itachi, because if we kill him, Sasuke wont have a target anymore." Sakura explained. "But to do that, we need several platoons deployed at the same time. "

"Right. But one platoon with two teams would be all that was needed in reality. Three would make it to easy for two people to spot." Kakashi added. "Not to mention keeping intouch would be a bit difficult."

"You DO need a lot more technique to capture than to kill, and communication is vital in these situations, so you'll want teams who have been on missions together before." Jiraya said.

"Quite right." Kakashi smiled. "I agree entierly, that's why i've already come up with a team. Come on in, guys!"

--------

Naruto looked around at the team Kakashi had gathered and Tsunade had aproved of. Yamato, Sakura, himself, Sai, Hinata, Shino, Kiba/ Akamaru, and Kakashi himself. It seemed all good and well for him, He'd never been with Hinata before, but he was sure that it'd be fine.

In no time, they were all gathered on a roof top, covered in white cloaks.

"Right, we'll start our search using a 5 kilometer radius, with this roof as the center. If we don't get anything, we'll just relocate, and repeate, until we find a clue." Kakashi said. Sakura imeadietly freaked out.

"5KILOMETERS? But our equipment wont work if we spilt up that far! AND there would be more danger to us if we're alone! what if something happens to one of us? We should go in groups of two at the least..."

"Sakura.. Chill cout, relax." Yamato said, smiling. A moment later, Kakashi had summoned his dogs, eight in all.

"No need to worry." Pakkun said. "Your voices will reach our ears just as fast as any wireless connection. Not to mention we can sniff out danger well in advance to back the closest person up." Sakura stood, lost for words, while Naruto smiled.

"Hey, Pakkun!"

"Al right!" Kakashi stood, raising his voice slightly. "Here's how the patrols will work. Each person will have two ninja hounds with them as body guards."

"Eh? Two? But why..." Sakura muttered.

"Be nice, okay?" Kakashi smiled. Two dogs came up to Sakura, one wagging his tail.

"I'll go with Sakura!" He declaired. his partner huffed as Sakura looked at them in surprise. Two more went up to Shino, one declairing he'd go with him, the other seeming to think it over. Sai looked a this two new partners, calculating what he should do.

"Hello." He said, and was met with a growl.

"Hey wait, what about me?" Naruto asked, noting that six dogs were now gone.

" Since your jinchuuriki, they'll be after you. If the Akatsuki attack you first, you'll go with Yamato for back-up, and Hinata because of her scouting abilities. Bull will come along as well, since he's loud." Bull let out a gruff bark, and Hinata blushed.

"L-let's do our best, okay Naruto?"

"Right!" Naruto grinned.

"To finsih," Kakashi said, "Since Kiba has Akamaru, i'll take one as well." He said, looking at Pakkun on his shoulder.

"So we're all set?" Kiba asked, Akamaru panting at his side.

"Right, remember, trailing Sasuke's sent is priority. The Akatsuki come second. It doesnt' matter whitch target you find, the mission is to determine their location and report back here." Kakashi said.

"Right!" and they were off in tiny blurs.

In the meantime, both the Akatsuki and the Hebi were on the move.

/////\\\\\


	3. Chapter 3

Yin and Yang

chapter 3

( i do not own Naruto)

"I can't believe Jiraiya died..." Naruto mumbled as he tossed a stone into the pond, watching it skip. The scratching of Sai's charchol paused as his curious dark eyes studdied Naruto.

"Is this another 'bond' of yours?" He asked.

"Yeah..." Naruto sighed, skipping another rock without thinking.

"Jiraiya taught Naruto for the three years he was gone." Sakura said. Sai thpought a moment.

"A, 'student teacher' bond, am I correct?" Sakura nodded. Happy with himself, Sai turned back to his pad and continued to draw.

Over the fast few weeks and shared missions, Sai had become a member of team Kakashi and a welcome freind, despite Naruto's efforts. For Sai, he was what books described as 'happy' for the first time since before his brother died. He liked having freinds, and the feeling of belonging that seemed to come with them.

Sakura sighed and fell back into the grass, gazing up at the clouds. She frouned as she thought about Tsunande. hse was quieter than normal, lost in thought. It was understandable as she'd lost a close freind, but she would sometimes sit, muttering to herself, like she was solving a puzzle.

"Hey, Sakura, you okay?" Naruto asked, sitting next to her. Sai's pencil stopped again as he looked over his shoulder at them, a look of puzzled concern on his face.

"Yeah, i'm okay."

"Is it Sasuke?" Sai asked. Naruto glared at Sai as Sakura flinched a little, but she nodded.

"A little. I'm okay though, really. Things have just happened a little to fast."

"At least it's slow today." Naruto said. Sakura nodded and Sai answered by continuing to draw. THe picture was aenough to depict his mood, as it was a calming one. A moment later, he looke dup at his team mates.

"I'm hungry, lets go eat." He stated.

"You don't need to make it sound like an order, Sai." Sakura smiled. Sai paused as he packed up.

"Was it? I'm sorry..."

"Dude, learn to take a joke. she's smiling, she didn't mean it." At this point, Sakura was actually holding her sides she was laughing so hard. Sai smiled lightly at his own foolishness and closed his eyes happily.

"Alright you goofs, lets go get dinner." Sakura smiled. THe two young men came up on eaither side of her.

"Lets eat ramen, we got Sai's sushi yesterday." Naruto said, rubbing his growling stoumach.

"Ramen will shrink your-"

"Don't even SAY it Sai...don't _even_ say it..." Naruto growled.

"Why not? it's true!" Sai said, shrugging in his defence. He kept a straight face, even though he was laughing inside from Naruto's reaction. Sakura giggled silently as the argument escalated on either side of her.

Naruto and Sai only quieted once they reached the now expanded Ichiraku Ramen stand. It made a fine small resturant. This expansion was a good thing, as all the 'rookies' who had been entered in the first Chuuin exam Naruto had been through had taken to hanging out there almost once a week. As they all filed in, News of a new Chuuin exam came from Shino, Hinata, and Kiba, who rode in on Akamaru. The giant dog lay near the door, while the six ninja dragged a few tables together. Soon after, Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino came in, doubling the noise, and then, with his usual gusto, Lee burst in, followed by Ten-Ten and Neji. the noise almost quadrupled, but no-one minded. People walked in and out of the resturant, and greeting were given along with small talk.

When the twelve were finished, there was an uproar of farewells and goodnights. The group of twelve split into four smaller groups of three, each young man of the teams feeling the resposibility of walking the girls home.

At Sakura's house, the three bade eachother goodnight, and the boys flew off home. All three hit the pillows with high spirits.


	4. Chapter 4

Yin and Yang

chapter 4

( i do not own Naruto)

"YOUR FREAKING KIDDING!!!!!"

The whole room flinched as Naruto yelled, slamming his hands into the desk.

"Naruto, will you PLEASE let me finish?" tsunande asked, she was developing a headache rather quickly. Naruto glared at her but allowed her to go on, indicating this by crossing hs arms. "As I just said, you four will be escorting a small caravann, there have been reports of a large bear in the vincity, and as they do not have the means to guard against one so large, they want a guard until they are clear of the bears territory.

"But, as i was going to state befor enaruto's outburst, tehre is an undercover mission i wish for you to preform." Here, Naruto perked up, Sakura cocked her head, and Sai's eyes glinted. Kakashi didn't even seem surprised. "There have also been reports of Kabuto. When asked, the leader of teh caravan said they had glimpsed him several times. This is serious, as your pervious report of following Sasuke told me that he has gained more power by transplating his arm with Orochmaru's. There is not telling wether or not if he had gained control of it, or if it is controlling him."

"Kabuto?" Naruto asked. _"After I become able to compleatly contol Orochimaru's power... I'll return to fight you, Naruto-kun. "_ The Missing Nin's words echoed in his head, and Naruto found himself wondering in a moments panic, if Kabuto had indeed killed Sauske, and had now returned to take out Naruto.

"Yes, Kabuto. And When alerted to this man's potential, the caravvan imeadietly paid the price for a full guard." Tsunade said. "You will leave imeadietly, they have already been put behind scheduale, and wish to move on."

"Hokage!" THe four came to attention and saluted. Then they turned and ran out the door, springing to their various homes to pick up on last minute items. They were at the gates in less than five minutes, and had introduced themselves to the Caravann Master.

"I thank you for the trouble." Miijii, The Caravann Master said. " This Kabuto has us greatly worried."

"I assure you that no harm will come to your Caravann." Naruto said. "Believe me."

"Naru-" Sakura began, but a hand went infront of her. She looked insurprise at Sai, who was watching Naruto closely. The other Geninn had lowered his head, and didn't look behind him for the rest of the trip to the Caravann. There, the Ninja were greeted aprehensivly, and many large, wondering eyes were directed at them, as Children peered at them from behind their mothers busy skirts.

For the Next week, team 7 was on their guard the whole way. They had Kabuto AND the Akatsuki to look out for, not to mention a bear. The bear proved to be no problem, even though they found fresh tracks of it's passing, it never came close to the caravann. And it was unusual to Naruto, that the Akatsuki hadn't shown up. He had thought they'd had a tab on him. Despite his apparant distracted appearance, Naruto was more alert than he'd ever been, the current event's were putting him on edge, and making him nervous.

Suprisingly, the week went without any disturbances. The caravann made it safely to the town they were headed for, and there had been no sign of any enemy activity.

It was different two days later, when Kakashi halted his team, looking at a charred area on the ground from his pearch in the trees.

"A fight?" Sakura asked.

"Looks like a bomb, and a small one." Naruto muttered. "Small but powerful."

"I'll go look." Sai said, getting ready to jump.

"NO!" Kakashi snapped. "There was a poison gass immbeded in that bomb. "Like Naruto said, small, but powerful."

"We must be right above the cloud reach." Sakura said.

"It's a pretty heavy, must've been a lot packed in." Kakashi said, peering below them with the Sharingan. Sai looked to his left sudenly, his sharp eyes straining. Kakashi looke dup and at his new team member.

"Sai?" Naruto asked. "What is it?"

"An explosion."

Then they all heard it. Several bangs in succsesion. They were off like rockets, following Sai. In a few minutes, they were within sight of the constantly growing explosions. Soon enough, they almost ran past the fight. Kabuto was imeadietly recognizable, but his quary was not. It was a girl about Sakura's age, in an outfit much like hers also. Her wild black hair was pulled back in to a simple ponytail. As they watched, She drew another handful of bombs out of the gray pouch that matched her blue-gray dress. She tossed them at Kabuto aftetr expertly removing pins. Sakura zoned in quickly on several bloody patches on the girls clothing, and it was obvious to her eyes that she was also poisoned.

"Sai! Naruto! Back Up Kakashi sensei! hse's injured!"

"Roger!" Naruto called back, and imeadietly produced several shadow clones. Kakashi had left his Sharingan out, so he went in to semi-close combat with Kabuto, While NAruto produced a Rasengan, and Sai his false beasts. Sakura Landed in front of the girl who had taken advatage of Kabuto's distractions, to hide behind a tree, and had been busy rippin out poison darts. She had very little chakra reserve, like normal humans, so the only reason she'd gotten so far alive was her bombs.

"My name is Sakura, don't worry about a thing, I'ma a medical Ninja, so i know what i'm doing." The girl nodded and disn't resist as sakura went about her way, finishing the removal of the darts, and drawing out the poison. sh edidn't say a word, only wimpered when Sakura hurt her.

It took a few minutes, but Sakura soon had her patched up and laying in the tree's roots. She came out from behind the tree to watch teh fight, and jump in if needed, but she knew it would give kabuto a chance to retreat and double back for his quary. She was releaved to know that she would not be needed, as teh teamworm between the men was flawless, even with their limeted time together.

In the end, Kabuto was chased down and away by Naruto who came back flustered and angered by his get away. by then, Kakashi had reached Sakura and was examining the victem with care, asking her questions, but she seemed unable or unwilling to answer.

"Is she a mute?" Sai asked.

"Perhaps. Maybe not previously, but Kabuto injected many poisons that don't work well together, and become more lethal when they are mixed." Sakura said. "A minor side affect could be loss of speech." Here the girl closed her eyes, a pained expresion on her face. "It may be temprary though. my master has more experience with this than I."

"Lets hurry back to Tsunande Sama then." Kakashi said. "She needs proper medical attention. Naruto, Sakura, go ahead and alert the hospital. Sai, stay here with me in case Kabuto comes back."

"I daresay you are correct about the side affects." Tsunande said. The girl was now resting, her old clothes thrown away and new ones laying folded beside her bed as she was in hospital pajamas.

"You can't sence anything remarkable?" Sakura asked hopefully. If she had been hiding her ninja powers from the team, it would make sence as to why Kabuto had been following her; but Tsunande shook her head.

"No. Nothing." She said.

"It's insane that Kabuto would be chasing her then? What could she possibly have?" Naruto exploded. The girl winced and wimpered. Naruto got his share by hits from the two medical ninja.

"She could be the daughter of a wealthy land owner or lord. And he does need money to start up his own organization, unless Orochmaru is working through him." Tsunade said. "He's getting to be as bad as the Akatsuki." The group of ninja looked over at the girl, then sighed and lef tthe room, everyone muttering about food. Sai, however stayed. He stood studying the girl trying to make sence of her. Kakashi showed up in the doorway, and smiled.

"She's in stable condition, Sai. Come on."

"Alright, Sensei." Sai said quietly. He walked past the jounin and down the hall with one last look at the sleeping girl. Kakashi himself paused, and looked at her himself, feeling a little dejavu.

"We're gone now, you can rest in peace." He said, and her eyes shot open in surprise. Kakashi smiled at her before closing the door. She looked down, then rolled over, looking out the window at the tree tops, and mouthed "Hurry..."


	5. Chapter 5

Yin and Yang

Chapter 5

Several weeks had passed by, and nothing seemed to have changed. The girl found in the woods was well enough to walk around, and had been dubbed "Yin-Chan" by Sai. She still couldn't talk, but she enjoyed to read the books that Naruto and the others brought by. There was still some disputes on weather or not she was a ninja, as some chakra could be sensed, but not much.

It was on this particular morning that Yin - Chan seemed to be quieter than normal. She was sitting on a bench in the mini garden the hospital had grown on the roof, looking out over the forest, a longing look in her eyes. She hadn't turned the page in her book for hours. At every little movement, mainly ninja returning the city or leaving, she jumped and began looking around frantically, then relaxing, a dissapointed look on her face.

Sai could see all this from his window. He glanced back at the canvas before him, and frowned. The picture wasn't right. He was missing something. To anyone else, the painting was magnificent so far. He'd painted Yin-Chan, sitting as she had all morning. He still needed a few spots to properly shade, and he could do that rather easily. Sai did finish it, but when he hung it up with the others over the large block that read 'Friends', he still wasn't satisfied. Was she not a real friend yet? Sai looked back out his window at her, pondering the thought. He was soon inturupted however, by a knock at his door. He seemed impassive at the possibility of a visitor, but inside he was smiling ear to ear. When the door opened, it revealed an energetic Naruto, who soon dragged the confused Sai out the door, babbling about a picnic with team 8.

Yin-Chan saw the activity of the two Genin once it hit the streets. She wanted to cry, it reminded her to much of a couple boys she knew who were like older brothers to her, and she didn't know how soon she could see them. She missed them so much, it hurt.

"Yin- Chan?" Yin jummped at the sound of the nurses voice, and turned to she her holding a tray of food.

"It's lunch time." The nurse smiled and lay the tray of food on a stand near the bench. Yin smiled and sat down, looking at the food there. The nurse smiled and walked back inside, not realizing that Yin wasn't eating. The young woman gazed at the food, not wanting a bite. She dumped the food behind a bush, and left the empty tray on the stand. Looking back out over the forest and to the north, Yin began to cry.

////\\\\

"So you two are entering in the next exam?" Kiba asked, eating a rice ball. Naruto nodded vigerously.

"Yup. I'm gonna pass this time for sure!"

"I'll try." Sai said quietly. Naruto slapped him on the back.

"Dude, you'll pass for sure!"

"um...Thanks."

"No problem!" The company burst into laughter, causing a few white birds to launch into flight. Hinata spared a daring glance at Naruto, blushing slightly at the wide grin that she loved so much. Akamaru was several yards away, barking at the vanishing birds, and the group burst into laughter again. Sai tilted his head at the dogs behavior, and stood up while the others still sat and chattered. When he reached the dog, Akamaru had calmed and was sniffing the ground, tail wagging criously. Sai's sharp eyes traveled over the ground and trees, noticing a tiny little Yin-Yang carved into one. His dark eyes narrowed as he touched it, the bark crumbling at his touch. His eyes soon moved to the ground, where he could now see faint traces of animals having just recently sat there. Up in the trees above these spots, were traces of human perchings, quite fresh as well.

Akamaru started sneezing and rubbing his nose, growling a little. Kiba noticed and came over, patting his companion worridly.

"Hey pal, whats wrong?" A moment later, Kiba started to do the same thing. "What the hell?" Kiba paused to sneeze. "I can't smell a thing!"

"What?" Hinata asked, alarmed. Shino looked up and soon, everyone was gathered in the little clearing. Sai showed them the signs he had seen, and the rest analized it, Shino had his bugs out, looking for any traces of chakra. The alarms went off in the city, startling the two teams. They all exchanged looks before they shot off for the village at top speed, Naruto in the lead.

It happened when the gates were only a a few leaps away, it was like slow motion. Two, white clad ninja shot past the two teams, causing them all to turn to watch them go. One held someone on their back. Sai turned just fast enough to see the face of the hostage, and it made him change direction pretty quick.

"SAI!" Naruto yelled. He too turned, chasing after his partner. Sakura motioned for team 8 to go on.

"Tell them we're in pursuit of strange ninja!" she yelled. Hinat saluted, indicating that she had heard, and Sakura hurried after the boys, soon catching up. "Do you know who they are?" Sakura asked Naruto. He shook his head.

"No. Hey Sai! Whats up?"

"They have Yin-Chan!" Sai said evenly. Even so, Sakura and Naruto could sence the venom in his voice, even if his face didn't betray his emotions.

"That's Yin-Chan on that dudes back?" Naruto yelled. Now that he looked, he recognized her clothes. "Why isn't she fighting back?"

"She could've been hurt, put under a genjutsu, and she still isn't straong enough to fight on her own!" Sakura yelled back. There was some shouting up ahead, undestinguishable to the three from where they were. Moments later, there were three pairs of the white ninja. They mixed themselves up, then shot off in different directions. Sai went off one way imeadietly, Naruto went straight, and Sakura took the path left.

Pursuit only... Sakura kept telling herself. It wouldn't do any good to get caught up in a fight and get hurt. She kept on the ninja she was following, clone or not. She humphed at their obvious strategy. Split up the team. Problem was, once Kakashi was alerted, his dogs could track them eaisily. Moments later, Sakura halted with a silent look of rage on her face, the ninja vanished, leaving only white clowds. "DAMN CLONES!" She screamed.

Meanwhile, Naruto was ripping his hair out for the same reason. After he regained his composure quickly, he shot off in the general direction Sai had gone, grummbling.

Sai however, was seeing that he had made the right choice. The ninja were talking again, falling and rising with the trees he knew so well. But what confused him, was that it seemed that these two ninja knew the area as well. Better than a planned escape rought.

One of the ninja ahead yelled out a jutsu, and soon Sai was surrounded by light comprised beasts, wolves it seemed from the looks. Sai whipped out a scroll, and scribbled out a few pictures. A few hand signs, and his ink beasts were living and attacking their illusioned foes, leaving Sai to continue the chase. He heard muted swearing up front, and the pair picked up the pace, switching Yin-Chan to the other ninja's back.

"GIVE BACK YIN-CHAN!" Naruto yelled, sprining up in front of the opposing ninja. There was audible swearing, and the ninja scattered. Unfourtunatly for them, Sakura, Kakashi, and Team 8 all arived, cornering the two ninja.

"Now what, genius?" The one with Yin-Chan asked.

"Working on it..." The other muttered.

"I sugest you refrain from talking!" Kakashi yelled. "And tell us why you are here!"

"I figured that would be obvious..." muttered the free ninja.

"Zip it." The other said. "We're not in a very good position at the moment."

"Like I couldn't tell!" Came the sarcastic reply.

"Ready anyhow?"

"SILENCE!" Kakashi yelled. "Come quietly, and we wont need to use force!" The two ninja ignored Kakashi, and went into a frenzy of hand signs. The Leaf ninja flew into action, but just as they were about to reach the white ninja, they vanished in an explosion of moving lights that shot out around them. The ninja shielded their eyes from the sudden onslught of light, and once they were able to see correctly, the lights rose, centering on the white ninja, dipping down, enveloping them, then vanishing, taking the ninja with them."

The leaf ninja stood panting in a confused circle, their jaws touching the ground. Naruto voiced everyones thoughts.

"What the HELL was that all about?"


	6. Chapter 6

Yin and Yang

Chapter 6

Tsunande sighed and stood after the recount of what had happened. Sai seemed to be quieter than usual, his brow furrowed in thought. Naruto was angry, and Sakura worried.

"Did you catch the hand seals?" She asked. Wordlessly, Sai handed her his sketch book.

"I was able to catch both sets. The way I drew them are in order of the performance."

"Both...sets?" Naruto asked.

"Of course!" Sakura exclaimed. "I did notice that one would stop, and the other would start up again."

"So this can only be done with two ninja?" Hinata asked.

"A transportation Jutsu, mostly scuicide for a single Ninja..." Kiba said. Akamaru sneezed. Shino didn't do anything, just stood there, but Hinata and Kiba could tell that the events that had taken place had unnerved him just as much as everyone else.

"Alright, your dissmised."Tsunande sighed, sitting. "May I borrow your book, Sai?"

"Of course." The ninja saluted and filed out of the room. Naruto grinned at Sai.

"Hey, no worries. I'm sure she's fine." Sai nodded. "Why don't we go train for the exam? It is in only a few weeks you know."

"Alright."

The three made their way down to the training grounds, trying to turn their thoughts from Yin-Chan's kidnapping.

/\\\

Naruto jumped as a knock sounded at his door. It waa the night before the exam, and he had been studying for hours, perfecting his teqhniques. He was exausted, as he, Sai, and Sakura had been training for the majority of the past few weeks. It was, however, a pleseant surprise when he opened the door to Hinata's blushing face.

"H-hello Naruto-Kun..." She stammered.

"Hey, Hinata-Chan." They Stood like that in silence for a few minutes. Then Naruto remembered himself. Blushing, he opened the door, glad the only mess in his appartment was the things he was using to study. "S-sorry." He stammered. Hinata lughed quietly.

"It's okay." She said.

"What brings you by, just out of curiosity?" Naruto asked, opening his fridge. As he surfaced, holding a couple sodas, He caught whiff of something that smelled better than even ramen.

"I-I brought you d-dinner..." HInata stammered, uncovering the bundle in her arms. "Sakura-san and I figured that you and Sai would be studying a lot tonight, and forget to eat. All of us did when we took our exams." Hinata blushed as Naruto leaned in to look at the food, blushing slightly himself.

"Smells great!" He said. "Hang on, leme clear a spot..." Naruto went off, leaving Hinata near the kitchen, a small blush on her cheeks. He was babling again, she loved it when he did that..."There!" Narto exclaimed, clearing the last of the papers from the table. Hinata went to put her load down, but Naruto removed it from her hands and scooted out a chair for her with his foot. Blushing worse than ever, Hinata sat as Naruto set the food out. She almost giggled when he said a short 'Itadakimas!' before cramming an alarming amount of the food into his mouth.

It was pure happiness on the young mans face from that moment on. Hinata got herself a little food, feeling a bit hungry herself.

"This is really good, Hinata-chan." Naruto said, smiling. Hinata blushed hard.

"T-thank you... it's my first time, i'm sure Sakura is much better..."

"Y-you made this??" Naruto almost dropped his bowl, his blue eyes wide. Hinata nodded, not trusting herself so speak. Naruto sat the bowl down and stared at it, then began to eat slowly. Hinata watched him in confusion, but almost giggled when he started to speed eat again.

"What are you doing, Naruto-kun?"

"I was trying to savor it, but it's too good." Naruto grinned, his old vigor back. "Back to the books!" He exclaimed happily, then plopped down on the couch, inviting Hianta over as well.

It turned out to be a rather rambuncious evening, as Hinata seemed to forget who she was talking to, and they were soon laughing like she did with her team mates. She lost her stutter, spoke out more, and the two dropped 'Chan' and 'Kun' suffexes when adressing eachother.

Hinata pointed out tips that Naruto had missed, and also gave him hints from her own experiences. Naruto listened patiently, throwing in a loud question or two.

Somewhere in their subconcous, Naruto and Hinata relized that they enjoyed eachothers company more than anyone elses. It was a subtle relization, but it was the kind that become obvious once dwelled upon, making you wonder why you didn't see it before.

These were Naruto's thoughts as he tried to listen to what Hinata was saying, while atempting to keep his eyes open. It eneded in him falling asleep on a startled Hinata's shoulder. Hinata smiled, lay him down, and grabbed a blanket from his room. She paused on her way out the door, looking back at Naruto on the couch, his sleeping form lluminated slightly by the moon and street lamps.

"Sleep well, Naruto..."

A loud buzzing brought Naruto out of sleep and off the couch the next morning. He landed in a tangle of sheets with a yelp, and it was about five minutes before he was able to get the alarm turned off. He then stood staring at it blearily, like it was an alien. The he remembered. Hinata had come over!!

Blushing madly, Naruto made for the fridge, and was surprised to see that the leftovers from the night before were in a tupperware dish.

Please eat a proper breakfast Naruto Kun!

Good luck today!

love, Hianta

Naruto's blush fadded quikly, then returned softly with his smile. He did as Hinata requested and ate the food, with a tall glass of orange juice.

And it was to Sakura and Sai's surprised eyes to see Naruto walking down the road to meet them.

"Okay, Naruto, are you okay?" Sakura asked, feeling his head.

"Yeah, i'm FINE. I've been asked that five times already!" Naruto snapped. "Hinata came over last night to bring me dinner, and she set my alarm. Scared the hell out of me this morning!"

"Really? she went though with it!?" Sakura squeeled. Sai blinked slowly.

"Home made food makes you -"

"SAI! NOT A WORD!" Naruto yelled. Sakura started laughing as they made their way down to the exam building.

/\\\

Everything was the same.

The room, several familear faces... the only unfamilear thing was the mood. The tension in the air could be cut with a kunai. The entire room of ninja was crowded in one corner, looking towards the corner to team sevens right. When the three looked, the othe rninja's actions were somewhat justified.

Laying in the corner was a large white bear, a white fox, and a large white wolf. Acompning the three strange animals, were three ninja about the same age as Team 7. The girl was sitting on the bears back, her arms folded on it's head, her head in her arms. her belts were visible, and dangling from one was her head protector.

Sitting with the fox beside him, was a lanky, black haired young man, wearing a downy gray coat with his forehead protector on his arm. Next to the wolf was the strangest one yet. He kept the hood to his gray coat up, not to mention he was wearing large goggles and had covered the bottom half of his face in bandages. He was wearing his forehead protector around his neck, and all three of their head protectors sported the symbol of the Cloud country.

"The animals have protectors as well..." Naruto muttered as they took a seat.

"I noticed." Sakura said. "Kinda strange, but not really. Kakashi's dogs have them."

"True." Naruto said. Sai kept silent, staring at the Cloud she-ninja. All three ended up giving him warning glares. Just before a conflict started, the examiner came in, and the first exam started.

skip to after second exam


	7. Chapter 7

Yin and Yang

Chapter 7

"Wow... only five teams..." Sakura counted. she tried to avoid looking at the polar bear, as his companion was washing blood from his snout. She didn't want to think about the carnage they had left behind, or how much. Sai was still staring at her, an odd look in his eyes. The lanky haired Ninja glared over at Sai, and nudged the one with goggles. The wolf at goggles feet lifted it's lips in a snarl. Sai only raised an eyebrow, then looked away.

(feeling lazy, doesn't want to type out these fights.)

"You made it, Naruto!? Congratulations!" Lee exclaimed at Ichiraku Ramen. Hinata was blushing happily at the comotion.

"Yeah, Sai did too!" Naruto said happily. Sai was allowing himself a little indulgence, as a small smile played at his lips. Akumaru's tail was thumping happily from seeing team seven again. Neji had kept more silent than usual,. studying Hinata's movements. His cousin had been acting strange as of late, and he thought he knew why.

"Thing is, the Cloud ninja made it through too, with flying colors no less." Sakura said. The mood of the table was dampened somewhat.

"They flattened their opponents in no time at all." Naruto said. "No hesitation during the entire exam. Even vetrens who didn't make it all the way are nervous. They signed those papers like it was nothing."

"Thats odd." Neji muttered. After a moment, the talk rose up again on happier matters, the volume soon raising their spirits again.

It was when the bells tinkled above the curtained, open doors that the mood outside the group of freinds went to curiosity and caution. Akumaru was the first to notice, and he began to growl, his fur standing on end.

"What is it boy?" Kiba asked as he turned. His eyes widened, then he turned to the giant dog to try to calm him.

In the door stood the three Cloud ninja, animals and all.

The girl, Momochi Saiya, was still wearing the same style of clothes they had seen her in a week ago in the exam room. Her long black hair was up in a pony tail, wild as ever, her violet eyes scanning the interior of the little resturant. She was wearing a fishnet shirt, over which she was wearing a cool gray belly shirt, patched up here and there with bluish material. She was wearing winter camoflage style arm warmers that reminded Naruto and Sakura of Zabuza. In addition to this, her belts were an icy blue, with her head protector hanging off the larger, looser one. Off the tighter belt, she had a pack hanging. Her pants were gray, also patched up with the same blueish material as her shirt. She had another pack strapped to her right thigh. Her boots were an impractical footwear for any ninja, as they were hiking boots, a deep icy blue, steeltoed, and held onto her feet with tight straps instead of the dangling laces.

Inuka Marou was the name of Goggles. His hand was, as always, atop the wolf Atka's head. His coat was still on but open, and hood still up, reaveling a black turtleneck sweater. The bandages on his face vanished beneith the collar of the sweater, and the goggles remained intact. He was also wearing steel toed boots, covered by deep blue/gray pants.

Maiyochi Senji was wearing the same pants and boots as Marou, but his dark gray coat was off, slung over his shoulder revealing a black T-shirt. Miki, the fox, was trottting happily at his feet, her tail floofed.

They stood in the door, looking for a good spot to sit, seemingly unaware of the attention they had brought themselves.

"The corner, Sai." Senji muttered, pointing to the clorner next to Akamaru.

"Good idea." Saiya said. Marou simply waited for his teammates to move before following, positioning himself to where no one in the resturant could see him, helped by Mauja, the bear. Akumaru obviously didn't enjoy this arangement, as he was right beside the bear, but he shut his mouth and lay his ears flat, putting his muzzle in his paws. Even Kiba was letting out a worried whine as Senji walked up to the counter to order food.

The talk in the resturant soon gained volume again through a lot of forced conversation. When the group split up that night, Sai was quieter than usual, and it was obvious from even looking at his face, that he was deep in thought.

So Naruto and Sakura let Sai go on his way alone when he shot off once they were clear of the resturant. They spoke lowly and in worried tones about their partner, and parted uneasily at Sakura's house.

Sai didn't go home. He went to the hospital roof garden to stare at the bench Yin-Chan used to sit. He was so confused. Saiya reminded him so much of her, but it wasn't really her.

"Hey there." Sai didn't turn. He'd known who was there when he'd arived. Kakashi dropped down next to Sai, and placed an arm on the young mans shoulder. "Anything imparticular bothering you?"

"Momochi Saiya...Yin-chan..." Sai muttered. " They seem the same, but they're not." Kakashi removed his arm, and scratched his head.

"I see what you mean." He said. "I think your torn between two girls." The grin was evident on Kakashi's face, even through the mask. Sai turned his eyes on Kakashi, and eyebrow rasied.

"Do you mean, I like them both?" He asked. "That I am attracted to them?"

"Yup."

"I could not find many books on this. Do you have a few I could borrow?"

"Do I ever, come on."

/\\\

"Sai is NEVER late!" Sakura exclaimed. She and Naruto were waiting beside the gates to the arena that the third test would be taken in. The Cloud Ninja team had camped out in Konoha the whole month, and had had crowds of people watching them spar in preparation for the test.

Sakura flashed back to after the second test, when Senji had been fighting. He'd turned the entire arena into ice and snow, and when he was repremanded for it by his opponent, he'd blown up in the poor ninja's face about being able to fight in different terrains. Sakura sighed, it was true. Team 7 had lost no time in training for different enviornments.

"THERE he is!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly, pointing to Sai who was coming at a leisurly pace.

"Where were you, Sai?" Sakura asked.

"Reading." Sai said simply. He continued on into the building, with Naruto and Sakura staring after him. He didn't normally read anymore, he picked up on social skills from interacting with people and through the coaching they provided. So they obviously knew something was wrong, but he didn't seem like anything was bothering him, he actually seemed more confident, and there was a determined glint in his eyes. Shrugging, Naruto and Sakura waited patiently for the matches to begin.

The only people to make it thorough were two complete teams, the clouds, Naruto and Sai, and one other. from the charts, it would be Naruto paired against Marou, Sai against Saiya, and Senji against a Suna that had made it through. Sighing, Naruto sat, waiting for the event to start, stretching while he was at it. He'd gotten back into the habit of stretching every morning, something Jiraiya had made him do.

"Naruto! Hey! Finally made it, klutz?"

Naruto smiled and turned towards the familear voice.

"Not far behind you, Kazekage." He grinned at Gaara. Beside him were three new ninja

"Meet Mikka, Salem, and Hunter." Gaara said. The three girls waved.

Mikka's wavy redish-brown hair was up in a pony tail, her head protector about her neck. Salem also had red hair, but it was obviously died, She was wearing her head protector correctly. Hunter, however, had bright, poofy blond hair, and a wild grin.

"Hey Gaara Sama! how are you?" Sakura asked happily. Hunter's eyes imeadietly narrowed and she glared at Sakura. "What?"

"Mine!" she said, while grabbing gaara's arm. Naruto sidled over to Gaara.

"Yo, can't you tell her to leave you alone?" Gaara gave Naruto a slow-head turn, a stressed look on his face.

"You can't tell her no. Try at some point." he said. Naruto took one look at the she-ninja and sweat dropped.

"Maybe not..."

"Anyway." Gaara laughed. "This is the only all girl team in Suna, and some of our best. they were sent here as body guards." Gaara said.

"Speaking of which, you should go sit down. The council'll have out hides if your not there soon." Mikka said. "See you all later! good luck!" Team seven waved, Sakura thinking back, suddenly smiled.

" I remember them! Oh my gosh! They were some of the greatest i've ever seen!"

"Don't help me." Naruto mumbled. After the breif meeting with his friend, he was back to being impatient. He had been thinking back over his fights, and thought he had found one that would work.

Unfortunatly, his fight was last, and the porctor walked onto the feild, rasing an arm.

"FIRST FIGHT OF THIS YEARS SECON CHUUNIN EXAM, MAIYOCHI SENJI vs. KAGEBAN OPAL!" Senji and Miki vanished from their teammates sides, and the only other surviving ninja, and girl from sand, leapt from the stands and landed face to face with the proctor between them. "FIRST FIGHT...BEGIN!!"

And so it did, as soon as the proctor leapt away. Senji created his prefered jutsu, an climate control. The entire arena turned into a swamp-land, and the two ninja took shelter on the low trees.

"Nice try, Cloud." Opal yelled. She had shoulder length blonde-brown hair held back by the protector across her head. "But even though i'm from sand, I use a quite different tequniuqe!" and she pulled out a scroll, and puled a brush from the pouch at her waist. Sai leaned over teh rails, his sharp eyes narrowing.

"Don't tell me..."He muttered. Sure enough, Opal whipped out a drawing as fast as Sai could, the ink coming to life, seperating from it's scroll in the form of a large squorpion.

"Nice work." Senji said. "Miki! lets go girl!" Miki yipped happily and the pair leapt up, expressing amazing speed. With a well placed kunai, the squorpion was destroyed, sending ink everywhere. Opal was grinning from her tree.

"Beautiful. I think i'll like fighting you!" She said, running her brush down the scroll. Now a giant snake came forth, It's hood opening as it hissed. Opal leapt upon it's head, and grinned. "I think this'll be a high-speed-game!" She yelled. Senji grinned, flipping a kunai.

"Sure as hell hope it is, don't fall short on me, girlie!"

"LIKE HELL I WILL!" The snake shot forward, and slammed into the ground. Opal yanked some shuriken out of her bag, and flung them at Senji who dodged them, laughing.

Up above, Garra sighed, rubbing his forhead. "She's flirting...again." He muttered, his dark eyes closed so you couldn't tell that he even had eyes.

"Aww, c'mon Gaara sama, she's just having a good time." Mikka grinned. She was leaning on the railing, smiling at their future teammate. hunter was at her usual spot, at Gaara's side. Salem was standing next to Mikka, playing with a tiny puppet that looked supiciously like a Zetsu doll. Gaara had to smile slightly in agreement. Opal was rather rambuctious, and for her not to have a good time was hard. He congtened himself to watch the landscape change time and time again, mixxing desert with swampland, forest with tundra. All the while, any surface was covered in ink and sarcastic comments were thrown back and forth.

Unfourtuanatly, Opal lost by a hair, but by a long shot witht eh comments. It was the most comedic battle anyone could remember in a long time. The whole stadium was laughing, but as usual, Gaara;s face was set like stone, but he had let an amused smile cross his features. Opal joined her freinds and Kazekage looking pleased with herself as Senji was celebrating with his teammates.

"You ready Sai?" Naruto asked, grinning at the impassive ninja. He and Sakura noticed a slight gleam in his eyes as they shifted to Saiya, who was also receiving words of encouragement. "Right, don't push youself to hard." Naruto clapped Sai on the shoulder, and Sai was gone in a flash, appearing on the feild below, still holding the remains of Senji's jutsu. He looked up at Saiya, unravling a scroll slowly. His attraction waswn't going to get in the way of this. He wouldn't let it.


	8. Chapter 8

Yin and Yang

Chapter 8

A new silence reigned through the stadium, the last of the laughter died. Tension rose again Saiya turned from the rails and took the stairs like Gaara had done so long ago. She appeared again, half in and half out of shadows riding atop Mauja. The bear grunted, tossing his head up and down like he was nodding. Sai blinked.

"Coming?" He asked in the same monotone he often used. Saiya gritted her teeth and whipped out a kunai, flipping it around her finger as she leaned forward. She begean to flip it faster as Sai dragged a brush along the scroll, dripping ink onto the ground.

"Fool. That Suna girl used the same tequnique. Do you think it'll fool me?" She snapped.

"I can try." Sai said, smirking. Naruto dropped his head in silent laughter. He loved this guy sometimes.

Mauja rused forward with a roar, and Sai lazily dodged, fliking his scroll as he went. Several inked bears came out of the special paper, charging down the other pair. Saiya whipped out a handfull of bombs, one between each finger on both hands as Mauja turned, roaring. She flung these expertly all around the inked illusions and Sai, who dodged again by leaping into the air, clearing the clouds of dust with no problem.

Saiya had also predicted every possible escape, and had flung kunai in those directions. She wasn't losing to this freak. Sai's sharp eyes calculated the distance, and used his ink to set up a sheild, allowing him to land safely and shoot across the battle scarred landscape.

It was when he was emerging from another cloud, that he was caught off guard by Saiya's leg. It hit him square in the face, sending him back several yards. Naruto groaned up above, along with the majority of the stadium. The former member of Root got up quickly, not taking his eyes from his opponent, even as he dragged his brush down the lenght of the scroll, making the same hand movments several times in a row. This time, replica's of himself came forth, and with a normal kage bushin, doubled the number to about 15 clones. Saiya gritted her teeth, tutting. She hated this jutsu, but the ink made it easier.

"Mauja!" She barked. The polar bear grunted and sniffed the air, searching for flesh and blood. With a roar, he started in on his target, Saiya leaping from his back with another set of bombs.

Not a moment later, She was yanked back through the air as Mauja bit into the neck of a too-slow Sai. Ink exploded everywhere, earning a colective gasp from the rest of the stadium. Saiya stared at her bear, then looked at her restraint. It was an unraveled scroll, tightened about her middle, pinning her arms to her side. She looked over her shoulder to see Sai holding the other end, his dead like black eyes glaring at her.

"How'd I do? Surprised?" Saiya said something rather inapropriet, but it was lost in the cheering as the Proctor accounced the winner. Sai released her, rolling up his scroll. Saiya led Mauja back up the stairs, ariving at her team as Sai leapt back up. Naruto was laughing, slapping Sai on the back, who was not only smiling, but even laughing a little. He looked over Lee's shoulder at Saiya who was smiling bravely at her team members, trying not to be to sore that she lost. Her eyes met his for a moment, and it sent a chill down his spine, like dejavu. He averted his eyes quickly as the cheering died. The Proctor had raised his hand, signaling the announcement of the third and final match.

Gaara leaned forward in his seat, his pastel green eyes wide and staring, afraid to blink. The entire stadium had drawn in a breath, as the most anticipated fight was about to begin. Naruto's hands gripped the rail, his knuckles turning white. _Sasuke...you were suposed to be here for this..my victory..._ He'd always wanted to show Sasuke how good he was, always wanted to surpass him.

And now he was.

Hinata lay her hand on NAruto's arm, and he looked down at her, startled. She smiled, and he returned it. Sakura watched the exchange with a nostalgic smile. Gone now were the days that Naruto would chase her, and it made her...sad. _Good luck, Naruto..._ She thought.


	9. Chapter 9

Yin and Yang

Chapter 9

"Ready, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Yup." Naruto said, his grip tightening on the rail. He sent a sideways look at Marou, who was speaking lowly to his teammates.

"Got a plan, Naruto?" Kiba asked as he came up. Naruto sent him a grin.

"You'll remember it well."

"U-um, Good luck Naruto!" Hinata said, her cheeks tinged.

"Thanks Hinata." Naruto gave her a hug. "And thanks for the food and tips."

"Y-your welcome..." Hinata blushed harder, as Naruto leapt into the ring as the Proctor announced the third fight.

"THIRD FIGHT FOR THE CHUUNIN EXAMS!! INUKA MAROU vs. UZUMAKI NARUTO!!"

Yells exploded from the stands as Naruto once again came face to face with a double team.

"You ready for this hot-shot?" Marou smirked. Naruto nodded.

"Born ready. Born ready to kick your butt and be Hokage." Atka snorted next to his companion.

"READY..." Marou and Naruto went into a fight stance, Atka crouched, his tail bristling up and rising into the air, his lips curling. "MATCH, BEGIN!!" The crowd roared as the three below shot into action.

Naruto was forced to make a hasty dodge from an attack from Atka, keeping his eyes out for Marou. He was there all right. Naruto summoned a Kage Bunshin and that rammed into him, pushing him out of the way of Marou's path. Marou landed as Atka came to his side, twirling a strange knife in his hand, Naruto gave the shimmering blade a wary glance as he backed away slowly, looking for an opening for an attack. The knife seemed to be made of light, so he could probobly manipulate it for great distances.

Naruto's assumption was right, as Marou swung, and the blade went out like a whip, and Naruto barely dodged.

"Hogake, you say? Gonna have to do better than that, kiddo!" Marou yelled, acompnied by a howl from Atka. Naruto snarled. _Need some help, pup?_ The foxes voice filled Naruto's head, and he felt the chakra leaking in. _Stay out of this, Kyuubi!_ Naruto snapped. He blocked out the foxes laughter in time to dodge an attack, his blue eyes darting around for a strategy.

"KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!" Naruto yelled. An allarming number of solid clones filled the stadium, causing a collective gasp from all but few. Marou twiled his knife, on the edge again now that he had so many Naruto's to face. The large group moved in at once, yelling at the top of their lungs.

Next to Sakura and Sai, Senji snorted. "Even a frontal attack with so many wont work on Marou, he's got one hellava nose."

"Yo, Cloud, don't underestimate Naruto, man. I made that same mistake once." Kiba said. Akamaru barked in agreement. Sakura nodded.

"We all did." She looked to a nodding Hinata. _Everyone but you..._

Down below, Marou was hacking though the clones easily. Once the last of the smoke cleared, there was no Naruto in sight.

"Atka!" Marou yelled, assuming a slightly crouched position. Atka ran up, howling.

"Oh no way!! He's using that Jutsu?!" Saiya and Senji yelled, leaning over the bars. Atka's howl was echoing now, like there was a whole pack of wolves instead of just one. Marou's hands were a blur of mevment, and Kakashi even had his sharingan revealed to catch the seals used and the speed.

"GUARDIAN SPIRT! WOLF SUMMON!" Maurou yelled, and with a burst of light, a glimmering clone seemed to walk from Marou and Atka each, and into their partners bodies.

"Thats like Akamaru and my Beast Human Bunshin, but a little different." Kiba said, also leaning in for a closer look.

Naruto exploded from the ground behind Marou, swinging with his leg outstretched, aiming for the ninja's head. Atka dodged unnesicarily to the right, and Marou moved to the left at the same time. Marou went into another set of seals while Naruto went into his own.

"PACK HUNT NO JUTSU!"

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" The pair yelled at once, and while 15 Naurto's filled the arena, Atka howled from behind him, Marou joining in.

"He's screwed." Senji muttered, leaning on the bars, a smirk plastered on his face.

"I thought we just told you not underestimate him." Neiji said from beside Hinata, who was one of the several regulars there to wrapped up in the match to care about much else, Lee one of them.

The ninja below had yet again begun to sign quickly. They released at the same instant, and the force of the jutsu's caused the ground between them to rip apart, and the jutsu's canceled eachother out. The jaws of the remaining Coluds dropped. Sakura just giggled and turned back to the match.

It was pretty intense now, it seemed the whole stadium was at the edge of their seats, waiting to see what would happen next. Naruto kept a wary eye on his opponent, knowing he worked by making his opponent panic, and they had just created the perfect enviornemnt for the pack hunt jutsu to work out splendidly. He reached into his weapons pouch, drawing several Shuriken. Marou crouched, and Naruto froze. At the slightest movement from the wolf, Naruto sent the little stars flying in the direction of the pair, who vanished quickly into the maze. Naruto hesitated for a moment, formulating a plan, then he was in, knowing everyone had just stood up, trying to see into the maze.

Inside, Naruto could feel the two weaving around him, waiting for the chance to strike, closing in, truly hunting him. He forced himself to remain calm, glad the fox had gone to sleep. Atka slipped by quite close, causing Naruto to lean up against a pillar, even know he knew the wolf knew his location. _Hopeless..._ The thought ran through Naruto's head, but he shook it to clear it out. He hadn't come this far to fail. He wasn't going to loose to a Cloud ninja and his wolf.

Howls erupted around him, and Naruto jumped, leaving behind a small crater from the force of the chakra he'd used. In the air, he created a clone to help him with the Rasengan, which he promptly flung into the face of Marou, who had seemed bent on following him. Again, Atka activated the strange connection made earlier to bring his companion out of harms way, so now another crater graced the feild. This time, boulders went flying about the feild was well. He could hear his comrades cheers, and used that to fuel him to launch into a fist fight, short, but forceful enough to send Marou several yards away, and for Naruto to gain a bite from Atka.

With the help of a few clones, Naruto was able to get the wolves grip to loosen enough to wiggle his arm free, but he had to hightail it out of the area because Marou had regained his feet and was charging in. Naruto leapt behind a boulder, holding his arm. _Shit... better come up with a good strategy now, if i could get the two seprate, like I did with Kiba, then I'd be in the clear, but i don't think i have enought chakra to hold that wolf still, he's a good deal more powerful than Akamaru already..._ Naruto swore violently in his head and closed his eyes. He needed to do something quick, or he was done for...

"What the hell is going on? Whats Naruto doing?" Kiba growled in frustration. Sakura was leaning out now as well, and Hinata was touching her lip again.

"He's coming up with something reckless, knowing Naruto." Sakura said, she knew how the young mans mind worked so well it scared her.

Kakashi looked at the boulder that Naruto had hidden behind, seeing the yellow glow of his chakra. It was a little low, but it was burning higher, soon it equaled more than he'd gone into the fight with and it was still growing. The jouninn tensed, and both eyes went wide as something incredible happened.

"What the hell..."

"What sensei?" Sakura asked. Akamaru was whining, and Kiba was getting nervous. Others who were sensitive to chakra were getting fidgety as well. Up above, Gaara stood slowly, his teal eyes narrowing. The girls stood as well, leaning as far over the bars as they could. Marou and Atka were taking extreme caution, while Mauja began to growl, and Miki was cowering under Senji's feet.

"Kakashi, what happened? is something wrong?" Sakura asked. Hinata was shaking, her knuckles white against the bar. She and Neji had both activated their byakugan.

"N-Naruto's chakra had increased dramatically..." Kakashi muttered.

"It's turned orange." Hinata said.


	10. Chapter 10

Yin and Yang

Chapter 10

Orange?

Sakura looked down into the ring, Naruto still hadn't emerged. Some of the crazier people had decided to hang off the railings to get a better look behind the boulder. Hinata leaned out further, hoping Naruto was okay. Sakura furrowed her brow. How could Naruto's chakra suddenly go from yellow to orange? The increase was at least a little explainable, he could have some soldier pills on him... but she thought it not likely. It wasn't logical...chakra didn't suddenly change colors..ever!

Marou and Atka were stalking the boulder now, and people had begun to climb back into their seats, afraid they might fall if there was another large explosion.

"Like I said... he's screwed." Senji said.

"Don't you DARE say that about Naruto!" Hinata snapped, shocking all in the vicinity that knew her. "Naruto wont let a silly thing like this get him down." She turned back to the arena, Neji sporting a smirk beside her. The loud young man had always seemed to bring the best out in her.

The arena became incredibly quiet just before Atka made to jump. Hearts were in every throat as the wolf crouched carefully, then it vanished, and there was an explosion at the boulder, once clear, it revealed an unconscious Naruto, with a proud looking Atka standing over him. The cloud ninja cheered, Marou's goggles flashed as he looked up, waving. The proctor walked out onto the field, raised a hand as Atka charged towards Marou. He opened his mouth, but another explosion of smoke, and Marou was flying across the field. Sakura grinned as the smoke cleared to reveal Naruto in a fight stance.

But something wasn't right. His left side was facing her, and the spiral circle wasn't there. It was like someone had turned it into a candle flame, with the spiral circle as it's base. There was also something different about his stance, and she could just barely tell that the lines on his cheek were wider.

"This is insane." Yamato's voice brought them all out of their state of shock.

"Yamato, aren't you.."

"Yes Kakashi, I tried. Nothing happened. I felt the foxes Chakra activate, but when I cast the jutsu, the pillars broke." Yamato looked down into the arena, studying Naruto closely. "This is just weird... It's like the fox is working with Naruto now. He's extremely angry, but not at the young man in the goggles there... He's bound, yet he isn't..."

"Yamato san, I don't understand..." Sakura said.

"Neither do I." Yamato said.

"From here on out, we're fighting one on one!" Naruto yelled. There was a poof of smoke from the boulder area, and there was Atka, bound to the wall by orange chakra.

"NO!!" The remaining two cloud ninja screamed.

"Can I say, told you so?" Kiba asked, a smirk on his face. Lee laughed.

"Yep, we warned you about Naruto! He's the very definition of youth, right Gai sensei?"

"Agreed, Lee!" Gai laughed. Naturally, Senji and Saiya inched away from the loud pair.

"Naruto's the strongest out of all of us. He deserves the title of Hokage, he's worked so hard to get even here. No one could ever imagine what he's been through." Sakura said. Naruto had again engaged Marou in a fist fight. Neither one was able to bring out a weapon.

"He's been through a lot." Hinata muttered. "Ridiculed all his life. And he'll continue to be ridiculed, because of what he is... It's...saddening..." Hinata said.

"Yeah, he's earned this." Kiba grinned. The two from cloud exchanged glances, realizing that they'd been forgotten in the exchange of strange words. To them, Naruto had just gotten to be more of a mystery.

He had also become a mystery to the people who knew him as well. Those who could see/sense chakra had all realized by now, that there was something wrong about his sudden chakra increase. Solder pills couldn't even increase chakra this much. It was unnatural. The councils were muttering amongst themselves, keeping one eye on the match.

It was ended abruptly. Naruto caught Marou's arm from behind as the Cloud ninja swung, and Naruto flipped him over his shoulder, sending Marou the rest of the way across the arena, to slam into the wall. Cheering erupted as the Proctor yelled out the verdict, drowning out Senji and Saiya's cries. They joined the rush of medics to Marou's side, Atka soon following as Naruto released him. Naruto was looking up at the stands, that old grin plastered on his face. Sakura and Hinata were the first to him, giving him a huge bear hug, and soon Naruto was under a pile of friends, Laughing and crying.

"We'll be celebrating tonight!!" Lee yelled, his fist in the air. Naruto shoved them all off. his cheeks were hurting from smiling so much. Hinata remained latched to his arm, but he found he enjoyed it. He looked over at Marou, who was being treated.

"I should see if he's okay..." He said, concerned now.

"He's fine. A little sore." Kakashi grinned. "He'll be fine after a little treatment. Though you hurt his bad leg a bit, that's the only thing he's complaining about."

"Bad leg?" Lee asked.

"Jeez Lee! you are SO unobservant! He's been in Konoha for an entire month, and you never noticed?" Ten-Ten smacked her teammate upside the head at his comment.

"He's got a gimpy right leg, it's pretty noticeable limp, but it vanishes when he fights." Neji said. The group looked over the much smaller group about the Clouds, and noticed that, when Marou was allowed to walk, there was a bad limp to his step.

"Hnn, I thought it was odd that they let him fight..." Sakura said. " Until I saw his fighting style."

Naruto nodded in agreement, looking up at the council. They were talking amongst themselves, looking scared. The only ones that seemed to be angry was Tsunande and Gaara. He gulped. "This doesn't look good." He said. The rest looked up to the arguing Kages and councils.

"Don't worry, Naruto! we'll all fight for you! you've worked hard for this!" Lee said, his thumb up and out. Naruto grinned.

"Thanks."

"Naruto, a word?" Yamato asked quietly as the talk went up about them.

"Sure."

The pair walked away from the group, just out of their earshot, then Yamato turned on Naruto.

"Naruto, I felt the Foxes chakra pour out at unbelievable rates. When I tried to suppress it, the pillars cracked. Several people tell me that your chakra increased dramatically during the fight, and those who can SEE chakra, said, that it turned _orange._Kakashi has already told me that yours was yellow." Naruto averted his gaze. "Naruto?" he looked back at Yamato, who placed his hands on Naruto's shoulders. "_What happened?_"

"I-"

"Contestants, this way please!!" Someone yelled from up above. Sai and Naruto left the babbling group, waving. They, Opal, and the clouds walked through the doors that had opened. Senji, Marou, and Saiya were staying as far away from Naruto as possible, their animals lips curled into snarls. Naruto responded only by shifting uncomfortably, and tried to ignore them. Sai was having an equally hard time, he kept glancing at Saiya, who was clutching her arms defensively.

The tiny group made it into a smaller version of the end of the second test, and there was everyone that held their future in their hands. Naruto gulped, but stayed standing tall, ready to voice a loud retort if they refused him.

Slowly, an elderly man stood, the eldest of the Kages. He cleared his throat, coughing a little. He smiled down at the Clouds, who smiled back.

"It is good to see you again, we have missed you in the past year and a half."

"Apologies, Sir, but Marou.." Senji began. Marou cut him off by slapping a gloved hand to his partners mouth.

"Ah yes, I heard about that. Are you feeling better Marou?"

"Much Sir, I thank you for your concern. I am quite well now."

"Yes yes, I suppose you are...Lets see, Well, good news for all three of you.Since you've worked hard and diligently since you were small, you've finally been qualified as Chunnin's and Elite body guards."

"YES! Senji did a fist pump. "Even after... He's still good?" He pointed to Marou, who , again, smacked his comrad. The group of judges laughed.

"Yes, all three of you. Congratulations." Senji picked Saiya up and spun her around. This earned him another whack and a scolding. Once the activity died down, Opal was called forward. She too, passed to be a Chunnin, As did Sai, who acted indifferent, but Naruto caught the glimmer of pride in his eyes. Then,

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Yes sir."

"We wish to know what happened today during your fight." Naruto nodded.

"Stand clear." No one had a problem with that. Naruto stood in the center of the room, eyes closed. He moved suddenly, biting his right thumb, and spreading the blood on his left hand. This he slammed into the floor.

"SUMMONING NO JUTSU!" He yelled.

There was an immediate change in the air pressure, as dust began to swirl around Naruto from the force of the summon. There was an explosion of smoke, which left the majority of the room covering their eyes. Once they could see again, A long, red tail fell from the smoke, followed by eight others. Eyes widened, hearts pounded, panic was barely suppressed.

The Nine-Tailed Fox was once again unleashed into their world.

lolz. enough of a surprise? SEND UR FLAMES!! I SHALL SURVIVE!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! ; )


	11. Chapter 11

Yin and Yang

Chapter 11

The smoke cleared, showing a growling nine-tailed fox, crouching low over Naruto, it's summoner. Gaara'a eyes went wide, amazed that he was finally meeting the demon that was sealed inside his freind. Naruto had met his under rather unplesant circumstances. Naruto lay a hand on the foxes side, and people then noticed that the fox was a lot smaller than he should be.

"Easy...these are not my enemies." He said softly. The fox relaxed, and sat down, eyeing the rooms occupants coutiously.

"The why have you summoned me?"

"They wanted an exclamation for what happened out there." Naruto said. "I made a pact with the fox, in return of releasing him of his bond, he agreed to lend me his power, perminatly. that is why, I suppose, my chakra turned orange, his red mixed with my yellow."

"So you cheated?" Marou exploded from the far side of the room. "You changed your power halfway through? _That much?_ PLEASE tell me this is illeagal!!"

"Silence, pup!" The fox snarled. Naruto shushed the fox, petting slowly. The crowd berfore them were simply amazed.

"The last person to ever control the fox was Uchia Madara." The kage said, a hint of awe in his voice.

"Well, we were both a little sick of him hiding inside of me. Besides, I'm not ready to die just yet. The Akatsuki are after all jinnchuriki. Gaara Sama was lucky he had Chiyo Sama there." Gaara nodded in agreement at Naruto's comment. " Besides, if they try to seperate us, Kyuubi Sama and I have set it up, so that each of us die the moment they attemt to do so." Even Gaara was shocked at this. Silence filled the room as Naruto continued to pet the Fox's fur, more of a reflex now than to keep it calm. The Kage cleared his throat, coughing a little.

"Well, either way, you, Uzumaki Naruto, have also passed as a Chuunin. Congradulations!"

"HELL YEAH!" Naruto leapt up into the air, doing a series of large fist pumps. even the fox winced from his voice. Sai gave a small smile, glad the Naruto he had known was back. It was strange to see Naruto dpressed.

_one step closer to Hokage!_ Naruto thought gleefully. The fires of determination had begun to burn brighter than ever before.

The group of six ninja walked out of the arena, talking happily. The clouds were still avoiding Naruto, who didn't really mind. Sai was sneaking looks at Saiya, his dark eyes flashing everytime, reflecting the torch light. He finnaly walked up behind her, lay his arms over her shoulders so that he could latch his fingers together infront of her, and smiled.

"Good job today, Yin-chan!" He said happily.

"What the HELL!" Senji yelled. The group had came out of the tunnel at that point, so Senji's movements were plainly seen. He grabbed Sai's collar, pulled him off of saiya, and flung him away several feet. Imeadietly, Naruto, Saiya, and the rest of the group was ready to defend Sai if needed. Saiya was standing stock still, her purple eyes wide and staring. Mauja was growling, advacing on Sai, as well as the other two animals.

"Don't you _ever_ touch her again!" Senji snapped as Sai stood.

"Whats the big deal? He was just acting freindly, and telling her she did good today!" Opal snapped. "Do you have a problem with showing manners?"

"Stay out of this, Suna." Senji now rounded on her. Naruto flung out an arm between them, even though he knew she was capable of defending herself.

"She's right, _Cloud_." He said. "Sai was being freindly. There was no reason to be hostile."

"Shut your trap, freak!" Marou growled. "He souldn't do that unless he knows the person won't be uncomfortable!" Saiya was still stock still. Marou turned to her, and even though no one could see his expression, they could tell by his posture and body language, that he was being extreamly gentle.

"You okay, Sai?" Senji asked, directing his concern at his teammate.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay." She muttered. Naruto and Sakura went to Sai's side, making sure he was okay as well.

"Here." Marou tossed a white robe over Saiya's shoulders, and while she was adjusting this, the boys were putting on ones of their own. They turned and bowed to the others there.

"Have a nice life." Senji muttered sarcastically. Sai stared at the three, his eyes going wide. "Lets go home." And with that, the three were gone, their animals vanishing in the strange light that seemed to make up Marou's knife. Moments after the three had sped out of sight, Sai followed.

"SAI! Where are you GOING?" Sakura yelled. Sai didn't awnser, just continued leaping from tree to tree.

"C'mon, Sakura!" Naruto yeleld, gesturing over his shoulder. The rest of the gang looked at eachother, then Lee, Hinata, Ten-ten, and Neiji also followed. After all, who was best at speed?

The group caught up quickly, but couldn't seem to get right up beside the Clouds. Naruto and Sakura had a bad case of Dejavu as they concentrated on the fluttering white cloaks. About a mile out of town, there was a burst of light, and the three ninja vanished. The seven Konoha ninja stopped, coming up around Sai.

"Sai, what's wrong with you?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, whats up? you really are acting odd." Naruto said.

"It was Yin-Chan, i'm sure it was..." Sai muttered. Neiji cocked his head.

"The transportation spell did..." There was silence as everyone realized what Sai had seemed to know for months. They looked in the direction that the three had been headed.

"This is WAY more messed up than it needs to be..." Naruto muttered.


	12. Chapter 12

Yin and Yang

Chapter 12

Sighing, Sasuke looked up through the trees. He wasn't to far from the town in the Wave Country that he'd had his first level B mission with Team 7. He smiled at the memory, and wondered how his teamamtes were doing. He nearly laughed out loud when he remembered how Naruto always acted, and wondered if he'd gotten worse.

Sasuke would never let on that he cared so much, no, he wasn't like that. Or, at least he'd try not to. People who got to know him in the short amount of time they had known him, could tell when he was worried, happy, angry, or amused.

And so the Ninja trudged on, thinking of Konoha and rebuilding his clan, not missing a step though his tired feet screamed in protest. He seemed suddenly determined to visit Zabuza and Haku's graves. It was unfourtunate that he didn't have much more than a prayer for them.

The moon was out as he reached the edge of the woods, illuminating three figures, and making Sasuke hide all traces they could use to find him, scent, chakra, and breathing, now able to hear the voices clearly. From what he could hear, there were two men and one woman, all three ninjas. The woman was crying.

"Father..." She sobbed. "I never got to say goodbye, and now someone has taken his sword!! "

"Hey, shhh. It's okay..." Came one of the men's voices. It was low and reassuring. A light smack indicated he'd lay a hand on her shoulder, and had it smacked away.

"No! It's NOT okay, and you know it!!" She nearly screamed. The sobs were obvious now. "That sword was the last thing of him I had!"

"Shh, Someone'll hear us..." Came a muffled voice, this belonged to the second man.

"I dont' care." The woman declared furiously. There was a dull thud as she dropped to her knees, crying harder now. Sasuke peered around the tree he was behind to see her before Haku's grave. He could see her pained expression, she was trying as hard as she could to keep the tears from coming, but that only served to make her look all the more tortured by the absence of the two who lay buried before her. Her two comrades stood, solem, behind her. Sasuke couldn't see the face of one, but the other seemed to be quite distressed as well. _Zabuza and Haku must've been important to them... are they from Mist?_ Sasuke thought.

"Hey." Asked the man who's face was exposed. The other looked at him.

"Hnn?"

"Can you reach below the surface for his ring?"

"...I can try." The one with the mask knelt beside the girl. "May I?" He asked, a hand on her shoulder. She nodded. Imeadietly, he sent his chakra worming through the surface of the earth, and a minute later, he brought up a tarnished golden ring. The girl grabbed it with a fresh wave of tears, and Sauke noticed a matching ring on her left hand. His eyes grew wide as his tired mind put the peices together.

"Lets go home..." Said the masked ninja. "Koorigakure is waiting for us."

"...Okay..." She said faintly. The unmasked man offered his back.

"Don't worry, we'll find the idiot who took your fathers sword and the ones who killed them and avenge them both. We both know how happy you and Haku were togehter." The girl sighed.

"Thank you... Both of you."

"Not a problem." The men said at the same time. They then shot off, leaving Sasuke in a slight state of shock.

It was about a half an hour before Sasuke finally believed what had happened. He sat down, wanting to rest, but knowing the sooner that this information got to Konoha, the better.


	13. Chapter 13

Yin and Yang

Chapter 13

Naruto looked out the open gates of Konoha. He and Hinata had planned a small picnic today, and he was looking forward to it. It had only been a week since He and Hinata had gotten together, and he was already estatic. He'd come to terms with his and Sakura's relationship quite awhile ago. It wasn't freindship, but more like a brother and sister bond, and Sai was carving his own niche into their world.

"Naruto Kun! Are you ready?" Hinata called as she ran up.Naruto couldn't help but grin.

"Yup!" She latched onto his arm as he hefted their pack onto one shoulder. They fell into conversation about the goings on in the city, compleatly at peace.

Naruto froze suddenly as a twig cracked. Hinata looked up at him questioningly, but remained quiet as he stared about them. She had heard it too, and now it seemed odd that there wasn't a sound at all anywhere around them.

"Hinata, byakugan?" Naruto asked. He was having the hardest time finding out what or who it was. He couldn't sence a thing. HInata nodded, and activated her byakugan. Her gaze needn't go far before she nearly fainted in shock, and she was off. "Hinata! What's wrong?" Naruto called, following quickly. They didn't go more then twenty feet before Naruto saw.

Sasuke was leaning up against a tree, looking beat up and exausted. He turned a hazy gaze on Naruto and Hinata, and something flickered in his eyes along the lines of recognition, and he mumbled something unintelegeble before he colapsed. Naruto hurried foreward and caught his former teammate in his arms before he hit the ground.

"He needs to see a doctor." Hinata said. "His chakra is almost gone. No wonder we couldn't sence him."

"Sorry our day was cut short." Naruto said as he hoisted Sasuke onto his back. Hinata smiled.

"You know I don't mind." She said as she took the pack with their lunch inside, and then they were off, shooting for the Konoha hospital.

/\\\\

"He'll be fine." Tsunande said, leaning back. "He's just tired, and needs a good long rest." Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi were all able to breath a sigh of releif. Sai stood leaning against the door frame, arms crossed as he looked at the last Uchiha. Once Sasuke woke, he'd no longer be needed to compleate team seven. For some reason this bugged him a lot. Naruto leaned back in his chair, looking like he was thinking hard.

"Whats wrong, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know." He muttered. "It's... hard to explain."

"You can try us." Kakashi said with a smile. "Right Sai?" Sai nodded. Kakashi was just being nice, Sai figured. He could see that he was feeling dejected, left out. Sai wanted to punch himself for feeling like this. He wasn't used to it, had never had so many emotions running though him at once. Naruto sighed, running his hands through his bright blonde hair.

"He's just not the same. And don't say it! I KNOW he's changed, but... he's not like he was when we all saw him for the first time in two and a half years at Orochimaru's. There's just something different... I can't put my finger on it and it's driving me insane right now." Naruto grasped his hair and pulled, looking stressed.

Sai could at least relate to this... he knew what it was like to love someone like a brother. But he couldn't relate to the feeling of lonliness and uselessness he felt now. He glanced out the window, and noticed the sun going down.

"I'm heading home." He said, gripping the door handle.

"Becarefull." sakura said with a smile. Naruto nodded and Kakashi gave a grin and a wave.

Sai couldn't explain what he felt, he glared at the ground, walking slowly. He reached his house later than normal, and as he fished his key out from his pocket, someone spoke from the shadows.

"You can see now, Sai, that emotions are confusing, useless things." Sai looked to his left to see Danzou. He blinked, then looked back at his doorhandle, the key inserted and unturned. "They clog your sences and overtake your mind. Sasuke is back, and the others will push you aside." Sai looked back at his old surperior, and felt something bubbling up inside of him. His hand began to shake, and his balled it into a fist. "Come on back to Root, you were better off there." Danzou turned to lead the way, but froze as Sai mumbled something. "What?"

"No." Sai repeated, louder this time. "They are my friends. Even if I am no longer part of team seven, they will not ignore me." Danzou looked into Sai's normally dead eyes, and backed away a bit. The young man was angry, and he wasn't afraid to show it. "I stay here." Sai turned the key and left Danzou standing, dumbstruck, on the sidewalk.

Inside, Sai locked his door and leaned his head against the cool wood, trying to calm himself down. unable to, he reached back and smashed his fist into the wall several times, making his knuckles bleed. he looked a the blood with confused eyes, and opened his hand to see that his nails had cut his palm as well. He stared at his hand for a moment longer before removing his glove and fishing out his first aid kit. He then spen the next five minutes patching up his hand deep in thought.

Once he was done, he stared a the wall beside his bed, his eyes roving over the many pictures he'd drawn and painted of Saiya. He looked toward the Icha Icha Paradise books Kakashi had lent him, and one word popped into his head.

"...love..." His brow furrowed in confusion. 'Desire' and 'Passion' popped into his head next, and their meanings escaped him. He didn't have a word to put to the burning sensation a mere thought of Saiya would send ripping though his heart, but he knew he _wanted_ her. Wanted to be with her, and perhaps find the meanings to those words.

Sighing, Sai changed into a pair of pajama pants, remaining shirtless as he lay on top of his covers, staring at the ceailing, letting his eyes droop slowly into a light sleep. He murrmured Saiya's name once before he was out, and a small smile stretched his normally expresionless mouth.


	14. Chapter 14

Yin and Yang

Chapter 14

Naruto sat up slowly, smiling sleepily at the birdsong. Tsunande had granted team seven a day off with Sasuke's return. He was up and ready in no time, and leaped out his window towards Sai's. Shrimp or ramen, he didn't care, he was hungry!

"Hey Sai! Open up!" Naruto called as he knocked on the artists door. A minute later, Sai opened it a crack, looking sleepy. Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Sorry man, didn't know you were still asleep."

"...It's fine. What did you need?" Sai asked, resisting the urge to rub his eyes.

"I was wondering if you were hungry! It'll be my treat!" Naruto said with a grin. Sai blinked slowly, then opened the door further.

"Sure, come on in." He turned, running a hand though his sleep ruffled hair, smoothing it out. He grabbed the curtains that spanned the side of his bed, and tugged them shut, blocking off his pictures from Naruto. The blonde didn't seem to notice, as he was looking around him at the rest of the pictures Sai had drawn. He gave a low whistle.

"Damn. Your good! Better than I thought."

"Thank you." Sai said as he tugged a shirt on. The remained silent for a few minutes as Sai dressed at a slower pace than normal. Naruto picked up a sketch book and flipped though it, pausing on one particular page near the end.

"Hey Sai."

"Hnn?" Sai looked over to see Naruto gazing at one of his open sketch books.

"You were the only one that figured out that Yin-Chan was Saiya."

"...yes..."

"You must really like her. This picture is good." Sai nearly blushed as he realized what book Naruto was holding. It wasn't a _bad_picture of Saiya, but one Sai wasn't to sure he wanted people to see. "I'm surprised you can put people in other clothes, it's like you actually saw her in the kimono."

"Thank you." Sai said a little stiffly. Naruto grinned. "You should show off more of your pictures." Sai blinked.

"You think?"

"Yeah! Come on, if your ready, I'm hungry!" Sai only rolled his eyes and led the way out of his apartment, or tried to, because a that moment, Naruto tripped, and took the curtains around Sai's bed with him.

Sai actually blushed this time as Naruto whistled at the pictures. He looked over at Sai with large blue eyes.

"Dude, you got it bad."

/\\\\

(silly Sai! )

/\\\\

"I was like you, but I was crazy about Sakura." Naruto said before he downed another bowl of Ramen. "I'm not so sure about Icha Icha Paradise being a guide to girls, honestly. Good series though. Jiraiya sensei was the author."

"Hnnn..." Sai ate another shrimp, wondering how Naruto had gotten all that he had out of him. Sai had ended up telling Naruto everything from Yin-Chan, to his confusion about the two girls, to his realization about them being the same, to his sleepless nights, wondering if she was okay.

"Don't be ashamed about being in love. It's natural." Naruto grinned. "Heck Hinata's liked me since we were at the academy." He gave a sheepish grin. " I was to busy trying to get Sakura's attention though."

"How do you...'get someones attention'?" Sai asked.

"Well, I tried being the class clown, but it only made her mad." He laughed. "Each girl is different. You'll have to figure her out on your own."

"Figure who out on his own?" Sai froze as Sakura's voice sounded from behind him. Hinata sent a curious glance his way as she sat next to Naruto who put an arm around her shoulders. Sai averted his gaze, scooting over so Sakura could sit beside him. The pink-haired girl looked between both young men, and only received a shrug and a nod from Naruto, the nod directed at Sai. Sakura leaned around Sai a bit.

"Sai? Are you _blushing?_"

Sai's blush deepened. Sakura shot Naruto a look.

"It's not you." Naruto laughed. "The look on your face is hilarious." Hinata giggled in agreement.

"So who is it Sai?" Sakura asked. "We wont tell."

"Promise." Hinata said. Sai didn't look at anyone, and mumbled something. Sakura laughed.

"Come on Sai! A little louder!"

"...Saiya..." Sai muttered. Sakura stared at him. A blush creeped into her cheeks and she gave him a glomp.

"Oh my gosh! That's adorable!" She squealed. Sai looked at Naruto for help, completely lost as what he should do. Naruto was to busy laughing. Hinata mouthed "Just wait it out." So Sai did and he was released soon after. "Seriously, you two would make an adorable couple." She said, smiling. Sai blinked.

"..t-thank you?" Hinata giggled at Sai's response.

"Your welcome Sai!"

"I was just telling Sai he'd have to figure out Saiya on his own, no one can really help you with that, can they?"

"No. That's true." Sakura said. "Finding out you love someone, and what you love about them, it's entirely you."

"I've loved Naruto's smile for years." Hinata said, blushing. The blonde ninja was rubbing off on her, she was getting a lot more outgoing.

"So, what do you like about Saiya?" Sakura asked. Sai opened his mouth, then closed it and looked confused.

"I...I can't..." He groaned and looked at the only other male in the group.

"You can't describe it, can you? NO words." Sakura asked . Sai nodded, relived she'd caught on so quickly.

"He can _draw_his feelings rather well." Naruto smirked. "look at this."

"Naruto..." Sai muttered, glaring at his teammate. Naruto shrugged.

"Sorry, I wanted to look at it again."

The picture Naruto places on the table was the one from the sketch book. It was Saiya sitting on a roof in a soft blue kimono with a icy colored obi, a sparkler in her hand. She was smiling down at it, the moon light gleaming off of her hair. Off in the distance, Sai had used pastels to create fireworks.

"...wow..." Hinata said. "This is amazing." Sai blushed again.

"I see what you mean Naurto..." Sakura said. "You really have got it bad." She told Sai. "Maybe we could mail a letter."

"I dunno." Naruto said. Sai cocked his head.

"Why are you so interested?" He asked.

"We want you to be happy." Naruto grinned. Sai blinked then ate another shrimp. He wasn't used to this much attention.

The four sat talking for another couple of hours, getting Sai to open up several times and even break out a grin. Once the sun began to set, Kakashi appeared, looking like he had been running all over Konoha.

"THERE you guys are! I've been all over looking for you!" He panted. The group at the table became worried immediately. "Sasuke woke up! He's been asking to see Sakura and Naruto." There wasn't even a split second pause before Naruto and Sakura streaked form the restaurant, leaving behind a red and an orange trail. Hinata started giggling while Kakashi tried to regain his balance. Sai stood slowly and exited the booth.

"Lets go. I want to see what Sasuke is like." He said. Hinata quickly agreed.

"Yes, I haven't seen him in years..."

meanwhile

"SASUKE!" Naruto yelled as he barreled into Sasuke's room at top speed.

"Damn it Naruto, keep your voice down!" Sakura scolded. She leaned close, but not to close, to Sasuke. "You feeling alright?"

"Yeah." Sasuke said in his normal, quiet voice, though it was deeper now. Sakura smiled. It was SO good to have him back in Konoha. "How are you two?"

"Just fine." Sakura smiled.

"Never better." Naruto grinned. Sasuke looked from Sakura's jade green eyes to Naruto sky blue ones, and had to do a double take on Naruto. Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion. "Something wrong?" He asked. Sasuke shook his head.

"No. Sorry. Where's Kakashi?"

On cue, Kakashi came through the window, and tripped on the frame, landing face first on the floor. The room burst into laughter, Kakashi with an embarrassed grin. Sai and Hinata clambered through a moment later, Sai giving Sasuke a long, piercing, look, that made Sasuke quirk an eyebrow.

"You do not seem the same as when we first met." He said. Sasuke gave him a look.

"You're not the guy who wanted to ask me about bonds..." Sai nodded. Sasuke only shook his head.

"You get used to him." Naruto said, covering Sai's mouth before he could say anything to Sasuke about matters that would _definitely_make Hinata faint. Sasuke actually let out a small smile.

"Hello Sasuke -Kun." Hinata said politely. "Good to see you!"

"Hinata?" Sasuke was pleasantly surprised. She was definitely better looking than before, but the way she and Naruto were exchanging glances, they were finally together. She seemed to be bolder, and Sasuke assumed it was because of her boyfriend.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but the door to his room opened and a hoard of oldies crowed inside.

Choji, Ino, and Shikamaru.

Kiba and Shino with a giant Akamaru.

Neji, Ten-Ten, and a hyper active Lee.

He was bombarded with tons of questions, and he couldn't help but smile after the initial shock. The group stayed up well into the night, and never noticed the falcon flying past at full speed towards the Hokage's office.


	15. Chapter 15

Yin and Yang

Chapter 15

Tsunadne looked up when something began to tap on her office window. Sh ehad just gotten done clearing Sasuke's name, and was very tired, not up to dealing with anything at the moment.

She glared a the glass, but froze as she saw the falcon.

"What the hell?" She almost yelled as she stumbled over to the window. She let the bird in and it landed on her desk, looking exausted. Tsunande called for some help as she unravled the scroll tied to the birds leg.

It wasn't very legeble, but just so, as it looked like Garaa had tried to learn how to write in Konoha's laguage, and had used it for the urgency this letter seemed to hold. She was reading it as people came in in a rush.

"Godaime! what is it!?"

"A letter from Garaa sama." Tsunande said. "He has news and he want's to relay the information to us as fast as possible. Gather team Seven. Sai's skills should come in use here."

"Yes ma'am!" The ninja sped from the room to carry out the order, leaving Tsunande to pet the over worked bird slowly.

Not five minutes later, Naruto was leading the team, barging into her office, his face flushed in exitment.

"What is it Tsunande? Huh?"

"Garaa Sama has sent this mesage, already in our writing to ease the flow of information. He wants a team to go to Suna directly to retrieve that information, and I would like you to do that for me. Sai's skills should come in handy, as he can manipulate ink."

"HAI!" Team seven saluted, and Tsunande dissmissed them. she then wrote out a reply, and sent their fastest bird to give the Suna one time to rest. Outside her office, Sai, Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi made plans to meet at the gates in 10 minutes. Kakashi would inform Sasuke of their whereabouts before he met up with them.

Three Days Later

"Garaa Sama!" Sakura saluted. Garaa looked up from his desk, jade green eyes approving of Tsunande's team choice.

"Right. I would like to get right to the information." Garaa called and in hopped the four Suna girls. Garaa then used his sand to fill up any cracks and openenings to form a sealed barrier, so no one would be able to evesdrop.

"What is it, Sir?"

"I have news of a new Village, very, very far to the north." Garaa said. Cloud sent me a warning, because that most recent grup of theirs through the exam,"

"Yeah?" Naruto' seyes were blazing with the urge to know.

"They were sent on a mission to search out a Missing Nin from their Cloud. They never returned. Nothing of them were found either. They simply vanished. I figured that it would be best, if only three villages knew this at this point. Cloud isn't willing to send anymore ninja, but I would like too. I thought Tsunande Sama would also be willing to send a team."

"We will relay the information to her shortly." Kakashi reasured Garaa.

"Take the girls with you." Garaa said. "If she agree's, you can set out imeadietly."

"Hai!" The girls all said at once. Hunter gave their Kazekage a hug good bye, and the seven rushed out an open window as Garaa recalled the sand.

meanwhile

"Sasuke sama says there is a complication in the plans." Juugo said as the bird on his finger flew off. Suigetsu scoffed.

"What the hell kinda complications could there be?"

"Well, it's the fox." Juugo scratched behind his ears. "It is sealed within his former teammate."

"Why would that be a complication?" Karin asked.

"You tell me." Juugo said, scratching his head. "They used to be really tight."

"Well, he should get used to it." Suigetsu yawned. "This world is a world of tough desicions."

"Not as tough as you would think." Sasuke muttered. All three of his new team members jumped and turned to see Sasuke in the window to their little shelter. " Do you honestly think I'm to weak to choose between my goal and an old team mate?"

"Of course not, Sasuke sama!!" Karin smiled. Sasuke looked out the window.

"Naruto is part of my past and part of the Konoha Village. He wants to become the leader one day, but if thngs go to Madara's plan, he wont see the end of next week." Suigetsu grinned.

"Should we apprehend the twerp and take him to Madara?" Sasuke shook his head.

" Let the Akatsuki deal with him. with the fox inside Naruto, it would be very dificult for us to capture him, let alone keep him confined. The fox's chakra would leak out and envelop him. I've seen it happen.

"This complicates things as he'd be much to strong for us to defeat if we attack Konoha any time soon."

"Oh, that makes sence." Suigetsu muttered. Juugo sat beside Sasuke and looked out the window.

"Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura and their newest mamber will be gone from Konoha for three days. If we cannot attack in that time, we will wait for another chance. Perhaps we will have our promised Demon."

"Perhaps." Juugo replied from Sasuke's feet. Suigetsu returned to polishing his sword, the one he'd stolen from Zabuza's grave, and Karin went to filing things mentally as the sun set over Kanohagakure.

Three days later, a total of six for Team Seven to be missing from Konoha

The eight ninja bowed before Tsunande, and relayed the information Gaara had given them. Tsunande agreed imeadietly, and they shot out of the building to prepare for the trip. Each ninja was assigned an item or two to grab, and they met by the gates in a half hour. Once the packs were made, they shot of a full hour after their orders had been given

None knew that Team Eagle was already on the move, heading to the same place, after the Eighth-Tailed-Beast.


	16. Chapter 16

Yin and Yang

Chapter 16

First off, I would like to appologize for how long it's been taking to update this. I have a lot of crap going on right now, most of it I would rather not discuss. I'll try and get back on my normal updating schedual as best I can. Again, I'm very sorry. *bows and hopes for forgivness*

* * *

"It's getting cold." Sakura shivvered. They were nearing the northern boarders of Rock country, and there was a light dusting of snow on the ground from a storm to the north. Mikka tossed her a thick traveling cloak as she put one on herself.

"We must begetting close then. Suposedly we're following the same path that the team from cloud took." Salem was off a little ways by herself, a hand up to her ear and nodding.

"Hey Salem! Whats up?" Kakashi called.

"I think we're being followed." Came the reply. "Right... uh huh, bye, i'll speak to you later." She then lowered her hand and tugged her cloak hood up.

"Being followed? By Who?" Hunter asked.

"Zetsu says an Uchia Sasuke is coming."

"SASUKE?!!" Naruto and Sakura yelled.

"Zetsu?" Kakashi gave Salem an uncertain look. "That plant Akatsuki member?"

"Uh huh." Salem nodded. "He's my little stooge." She smiled, Kakashi and Sai both sweatdropped. She was quiet, but potentially dangerous. Sakura and Naruto were meanwhile badgering the Suna shinobi for information about Sasuke. "Zetsu say's that he's with three other people, in a group dubbed 'Eagle,' they have ahigh potential to be a serious threat." Naruto and Sakura both cast their downcast faces to the ground. They had thought they had their friend back.

"Lets move out! " Opal called. She had picked up her pack and had moved a bit away from the group.

"Stay close Opal! we could get lost out here!" Hunter yelled.

The group pulled closer together and tied a rope around eachothers waists. The storm was comming in, and they weren't taking any chances. After only a half hour of leaping from icy rock to icy rock, they were forced to stop and set up camp in a small cave. hey had a fire going in no time, and a cover over the cave entrance, courtasy Mikka who was a bit like Deidara was, and specialized in controling earth. They bagan to talk and get to know eachother, trading stories of missions and of home life. All Sai would say about the Root division of Konoha was that it was boring, and the rest let the matter drop.

not long after they settled down, they were inturupted by a muffled bang, and a large crack appeared in the wall of earth that Mikka had erected. The eight ninja got into fight stances, and focused on the wall. There was a moment of silence, then a loud bang caused the wall to colapse and the cave was filled with the dusty soil blown about by the bomb.

As the air cleared, it revealed a polar bear and on it's back was a person clad in baggy gray pants, a thick gray coat, and a headband. Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he deciphered the symbol on it, a Yin-Yang.

The shinobi took one look a the group and with a few speedy hand signs, a wall of ice seperated them. Kakashi looke dover at Sakura. She nodded and stepped up to the wall. with a single punch. she shattered the ice, and they were off, chasing the bear and ninja through the calmed storm.

The mysterious ninja looked over their shoulder, and tossed several bombs, which the Suna and Konoha ninja eaisily dodged. There was muted swearing and the bear picked up the pace, passing under a natural arch. As the others passed under it was well, two more ninja dropped before them as a wolf howled. They too bore the Yin-Yang, one on it's arm, the other around it's neck. The Suna girls were held up by these two ninja, letting Kakashi, Sai, Naruto and Sakura chase down the other, who was making a break for a gorge in the mountains before them.

Sai took the lead, and got close enough to leap and tackle the ninja on top of the bear, sending the pair tumbling down into the snow. Sai quickly pinned the ninja's arms and legs, so they couldn't attack. He sook the snow out of his eyes and hair, and when he saw who was below him, his eyes widened and his grip tightened slightly.

"Great job Sai!" Naruto cheered. Sai didn't answer, just kept staring down at the kunoichi below him.

"We got the others." Mikka called. Kakashi looked over his shoulder and saw that one ninja in goggles was tied up by one of Salem's puppets, his wolf also helpless, and the other ninja with a fox was wrapped up in a scroll by Opal, while Naruto had restrained the bear the same way he'd restrained Atka during the Chuunin exam.

Sai stood slowly, keeping a strong grip on the ninja he'd restrained, reciving angry glares from her.

"Don't run." He said as his grip loosened.

"What are you DOING?" Naruto yelled. Sai ignored him.

"We all thought you three were dead."

"Dead?" Scoffed a familear voice. "Like hell. Man this sucks...caught by a girl..." Every one looked at the ninja restrained by Opal's scroll.

"Senji?" Sakura asked tentitavly. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"We'd like to ask you the same thing." Marou said as Salem let him go.

"We were sent on a mission by both Konohagakure and Sunagakure to investigate your dissapearence." Kakashi said. The three ninja exchanged looks and filled the awkward silence by petting their anamls. "We have a bit of an advatage here. If you've abandoned Cloud, we'll have to take you back by force."

"We never abandoned them."

"Saiya!" Marou snapped.

"What do you mean?"

"The deal was when they accepted to train us, was that in return for our training, we would serve them in dire need only. They knew we would be leaving after our trainining was compleated. But they didn't like that idea after they saw how well we worked as a team, and our skills."

"Saiya, you're mother will kill you!" Senji muttered.

"The original idea was to get allis."

"Alli's?" Naruto asked, cocking his head.

"It was Daddy's idea." Marou slapped a hand over her mouth, reciving a look that could kill.

"She's said more than enough. Tell Cloud we are not dead, and that we have not abandoned them. Tell them to review the files if they must. We will return upon call."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... Not so fast, there are WAY to many holes here. I'm confused." Opal waved her hands around, and Saiya recived glare from both her partners.

"It is not our place to diclose confidential information." Marou said.

"Wait, not your place..." Kakashi was now among the confused. A horn blew in the distance, causing everyone to look up and toward the sound.

"Ah, shit. We dont have a choice. Lets get inside the village!" Senji yelled as he and Miki headed for the gorge.

"I don't get it! What's going on?!" Mikka yelled.

"The storms second wind. Even though you could be enemy's we're not gonna let you die. So come on!" Marou said. He pulled on two of the Suna girls arms, and they all moved within what seemed to be their villages enterance several minutes later. This was was confirmed as large wooden doors shut with a slam and they moved below the surface into a natural cave. The people atop the gates had followed them inside, and they had shut the wooden doors that fit the cave enterance.

"You guys don't take any chances, do you?" Kakashi asked.

"We like to conserve heat. We open them between gusts so people caught out in the others that could find shelter can get inside. Not a lot make it." Senji said. The large group rounded a bend and all not native to the area were stunend by the livliness.

Somehow a small city had gone unnoticed by all the world. It was easy enough to seperate the districts, from homes to resutrants to the market, the Leaders house was easiest, as it was the largest and centered in the very back of the large cave. At the very enterance to the city, was a statue of what the eight outsiders figured was the founder. To Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura, it seemed oddly familiar. They then turned their attention to the walls where large torches were lit with roaring fires beide which, huge stock piles of wood and coal had been placed. Above these were holes drilled into the cliff to act as chimmineys, funneling the smoke out of the cave.

As they ventured in further, Sai began to see faces he recognized, and whipped out his 'little black-book' as Naruto had jokingly began to call it. He flipped through it at top speed, comparing faces, becoming more and more confused as they moved on.

"Hey, Sai, whats up?" Naruto asked.

"A lot of these, they're all missing Ninja." Sai said. "See? There's this guy here. Level 3, running a noodle shop."

"And you'd do best to keep your mouth shut." Marou growled. "He's my uncle." Naruto gulped. Saiya's face lit up sudenly and she ran up to the large house at the back of the cave as they approached it, arms outsretched.

"Mama!"

"Saiya! How's my baby?"

"I'm good."

"And how are you boys?"

"We are well, M'Lady." Senji and Marou said happily. Saiya's mother looked at the Suna and Konoha ninja a with pericing purple eyes.

"What are they doing in here?"

"They are shinobi and kunoichi we met in the exam. The village hidden in the Cloud grew worried when we left, and apparently thought we were dead, so Suna and Konoha sent this group to investigate. There was a storm outside, we couldn't leave them out there." Senji said. Saiya's mothers expression changed imeadietly, giving some a mental whiplash.

"Welcome, then." She smiled. " I am Momochi Yuki, Leader of this village. You are welcome to stay as long as you need."

"Thank you my Lady." Kakashi smiled.

"No problem. Come in, come in." Yuki stood and led the way inside, chatting animatedly with the three young ninja beside her. Shoes were dropped off beside the door, as well as coats. Marou reached for his goggles as it seemed to be habit, but he caught a glimpse of their unexpected visitors and seemed to think better of it. Saiya rolled her eyes but did nothing more than that.

The whole group got into lively conversation, surprising for being so newly aquanted. Through a little careful questioning, Kakashi was able turn the subject to the village they were in.

"How long has your village been here?" He asked.

"Not very long." Yuki said. "But nearly twenty years, I can hardly beleive it."

"Believe it, My lady." Senji grinned. The entire company laughed out loud, the konoha Ninja more so as 'believe it' was Naruto's infamous line.

"So almost twenty years? my goodness." Mikka exclaimed. It must be hard to start a shinobi village out of nothing."

"Well, they all were you know." Yuki smiled. "Every last Shinobi village out there in the world today, how do you suppose that they came about?" All eyes turned to her. "Without the rebelious ninja, the missing ninja, and a countries willingness...these villages would not have come into being.

"We are no acception. My husband first met me here sixteen years ago. We married and began this village together. Saiya was our first very real joy. Haku was next. poor boy was all alone in the streets.

"Not to long after, missing ninja began to creep in from the south, we did all we could to help them make it here safely. Some wanted to use the village for revenge, others merely for shelter. Many agreed with the creation of a new village, and became a happy part of it. So many killers having a chance to relax." Yuki smiled and put a hand over her heart. " It's almost as if they are all our children."

"I understand, my lady." Kakashi smiled. Naruto nodded but then his face drooped.

"Haku? I've been getting Deja-vu in unhealthy amounts lately..." He muttered Sai peered at him curiously.

"I have not seen you take any medication." Again, the room laughed.

"No Sai." Sakura smiled. " Deja-vu is a feeling that you get when you see or hear something you think you've seen before, when you really haven't. And now that you mention it Naruto, so have I. No offense guys, it was when you appeared. That's when it all started."

"None taken." The three Koorigakure ninja said in unison, making Yuki and the rest laugh. Naruto gazed sullenly around the room, trying to figure out where he had heard this Haku's story before, when a wedding photo caught his eye. He got up to look at it, ignoring the current conversation of Sunagakure. He smiled when he saw a happy and blushing Yuki, in a fancy white kimono. She most likely came from a wealthy family. Her groom was dressed in something simple, seeming to say he wasn't one to always dress up. Naruto's gaze moved from the man's feet up, his eyes narrowing the further he got. when he saw the mans face, his eyes popped out of his head.

"WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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Heh, lol. i hope you all liked this chapter. Again, sorry about the late update. for explanation, reffer to the begining. i'll try and update next week ^^


	17. Chapter 17

Yin and Yang

Chapter 17

Every one in the room jumped sky high.

"Damnit Naruto you asshole!" Hunter yelled. Mikka shushed the kunoichi for her language.

"Naruto! really!" Sakura sanpped. Naruto payed her no mind. He snatched the picture off of the mantle and set it on the table for everyone to see. It took a moment for them to proess the information. everyone's reaction was different, and rather comical to the four who knew the man.

"I know he was considered a monster in your world, But Zabuza was such a loving man. He didn't agree with the standards his village set, he wanted to create his own. So he did. And here it is, still standing strong on it's own two legs." Yuki smiled. The Suna girls backed off, knowing that they didn't hold much of a place in the conversation.

"We're very sorry about his and Haku's passing." Kakashi said. He looked at the hand that had driven right through the young boy's heart. He sighed and lowered it. "They both died very honarable deaths." Saiya looked up with a gasp, her eyes overflowing with tears.

"How did he die!?" She asked, seeming almost despearate. Sai cocked his head, womdering at this new feeling she was expressing.

"He died saving you father. From me." Kakashi said. Senji and Marou hissed in anger, nearly leaping upon the table, knives out. Yuki held up her hand indicating Kakashi continue. He gave her a nod of thanks. "Yes, it's true we fought Zabuza and Haku, but we had conflicting missions. We were to protect the man he was to kill. I had your father cornered. Haku protected him.

"The man that hired your father in the first place, revealed his true plan. He'd never meant to pay Zabuza. So there was the end of the conflict." Kakashi sent a glance at Naruto. Naruto gazed a the table sadly. There was a bit more to it. " Zabuza went off in style. He truly was the demon people called him in the end. He killed the man who hired him. We buried them together at the edge of Cloud country before we left."

"Do you know what happened to his sword?" Saiya asked suddenly. Kakashi blinked.

"No. Why."

Saiya broke down again, crying on Marou's shoulder.

"We saw the graves." Senji explained. "Someones removed it." He patted her head genlty like an older brother to his baby sister. "It's all she ever wanted from him. Haku's ring was untouched of course, but-"

"Wait... ring?" Naruto cocked his head. Saiya dug undernieth her shirt and brought out an old ring. It directly matched the one she wore on her left hand.

"I was engaged to Haku. I know we were only tweleve, but I honestly loved him with all my heart. Neither of us could wait, we were so exited." She started to cry, and angrily brushed away the tears, Marou hugged her gently while Senji patted her head. Yuki indicated for the servents around the room.

"I'm sorry. But the servents will take you to your rooms. Please, stay the night and rest." Yuki said quietly. The ninja nodded and left. Sai was unusually quiet, and slipped into his room without a word.

"Poor guy." Mikka commented. Her teammates agreed as they all entered the room they decided to share. Sakura joined them while Kakashi and Naruto went for a walk to give Sai some time to himself.

***

Sai really didn't know what to make of Saiya's feelings. He knew she hadn't liked him very much, proven when he had beaten her in the exam. But this, damnit why did his chest hurt now? The disgruntled teen sat on the window sill of his room, staring out at the village. He really wasn't feeling himself, and had no clue as to why. He didn't know it, but the Saiya, Marou and Senji could see him from Saiya's bedroom window, and they were watching him intently.

"I still don't like him." Senji muttered as he bit into some jerky. Marou shook his head as he began to remove his coat. "Not leaving those on?"

"Hell no, I'm hot as hell." Marou muttered. "It sucks not being able to relax. Mind if I camp out in here tonight, Saiya?"

"Sure."

"I may as well stay too." Senji said, keeping one eye on Sai.

"What spooked you so bad anyway?" Marou asked as he began to unwind the bandages. His goggles lay on top of his coat, revealing his dark eyes.

"He recognized me." Saiya whispered. "Yin-Chan was the nickname he gave me since I wouldn't talk. There's just something odd about him, you know?"

"Yeah, he didn't even know what deja-vu was." Senji snorted. Marou shrugged. "Huh, looks like he's talking to himself now." Saiya and Marou looked to see Sai's mouth moving, a frustrated look on his face. Moments later, Sakura came to sit beside him on the window sill so that they couldn't see her face. Sai leaned his head back, talking again, looking dejected this time. He lifted his hand, looking at it and seeming depressed. Sakura leaned forward, grasping his hand in hers. She seemed to say something that surprised him, because moments after, he looked at her with the facial expression change that changed to one of hope. Sakura nodded, then gave her team member a quick hug before leaving Sai looking thoughtful.

"Okay, that was either a love confession or a council session." Senji said, leaning out the window as Sai vanished.

"Get in here!" Saiya scolded, pulling him in. Marou collapsed onto Saiya's bed, stretching out as he tried to cool off.

"What ever. The kid is weird, may as well leave him alone. If we do anything, he'll figure something out, he's far to intelligent. Remember when we went to save Saiya from Konoha?"

"Yeah, dude, Hatake Kakashi is NOT someone you wanna mess with!" Senji said, finishing his snack.

"I'm going to sleep guys, try and keep it down…" Saiya said as she hugged a pillow and turned her back on the room. Senji and Marou nodded, falling asleep where they were not long after.

unfortunatly, Winter semester at the college i go to starts tomorrow, and i have a lot of school and work, so i'll be typing a chapter a week for all four FF's i have at the moment, and updates will be moved from monday to saturday. very sorry for the long wait and the even longer wait ahead ^^;

thankx for undersatnding^^


	18. Chapter 18

Yin and Yang

Chapter 18

The huge group that had sat together the night before sat at the same long table for breakfast, talking animatedly over the food. Even Sai was in a better mood than he had been in the night before. He was glad Sakura had come in to talk to him the previous night, she'd helped him clear his thoughts and relax, so now everyone was enjoying a new side of him.

The peace didn't last long, as a servant rushed in, in a near state of panic.

"My Lady!" he called, panting. Yuki stood swiftly, a worried expression on her face.

"What is it?"

"It's…Kabuto…" the servant panted. "He's having another attack!"

"Please excuse me." Yuki said, hurrying out the door. Saiya, Senji, and Marou leapt up after her, exiting the room as quickly as Yuki. The remaining Shinobi looked at each other, then hurried after.

They ended up in a lower area of the house, the chaos was almost to much, with servants running everywhere, tripping over each other. With Sai's ink beasts, they were able to follow the Momochi's and the two boys to a room on the far side of the house, Where the chaos was centered. Inside was indeed a Shinobi who looked like Kabuto with different clothing and a Koorigakure band on his arm. He seemed to be having some sort of asthma attack, and Sakura hurried forward to help.

"What on earth is going on here?" Sakura asked as Kabuto jumped at the sight of team 7, nearly putting himself into another panic attack.

"I'd like to know the same." Kakashi said, his arms crossed. Yuki nodded, after explaining that the Konoha and Suna ninja were simply guests.

"He is Kabuto, once servant of Orochimaru. He was replaced by his twin brother, who took on his name to give the illusion that it was the same person."

"Hey." Kabuto said awkwardly.

"So, why are you here?" Naruto asked, once again displaying his desire to give the benefit of the doubt.

"When I heard about the plan to take Sasuke, I was willing, but then I witnessed the true horror of the mark, and I began to sympathize with the boy. I regretted taking part in it, and Orochimaru saw this. and although I still followed his orders, my reluctance caused me to be ordered to death. I barely escaped. I've kinda been having panic attacks ever since, because I think he may have found out that I am the 8 tailed beast." Here, Kabuto sweat dropped at the confused looks on the foreigners faces. Sakura frowned.

"Of course, your chakra moves two different ways."

"How did you become the 8th jinnchuriki?" Naruto asked, now sitting beside the older ninja.

"I was about five, it sealed itself in me. I met it, injured, as I played in the harbor of Wind country, and when I saw dolphins in the distance, I took a small boat out to see it. That is when it spoke to me, and asked if I would help it, by sharing a body. I agreed, being young, and it sealed itself with the warning to never tell a soul."

"What animal is it?" Naruto asked.

"Eh… a bit like a water dragon. He's sleeping at the moment, but we sometimes go swimming around here. He's glad some one has decided to create a village here.

"He's from this area?"

"Native to it, actually." Kabuto said.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but us girls are heading back to give Gaara sama our report. Stay here as long as you see fit." Mikka said. "But we need to report back or we'll be reporting as missing as well."

"Okay. Be sure to send Tsunande-sama a note." Kakashi said. "Here, I'll write one for you." The five ninja left the room, escorted now my Yuki who was talking to Kakashi about asking Tsunande to become allies. The younger Shinobi left over turned back to Kabuto, who was still looking nervous.

"So, what's your brothers name?" Sakura asked, finishing with her checkup, satisfied that the other ninja wouldn't send himself into another attack.

"Kanbi." Kabuto said. "As you have most likely come to know, he's quite ruthless."

"Yeah, and attached part of Orochimaru to him!" Naruto said. "He's disgusting."

"HE DID WHAT!?" Kabuto yelled, leaping to his feet.

"Um…a-attached a part of Orochimaru to himself? Sasuke killed that snake loving freak, and well, I don't know…" Naruto said, regretting ever actually saying anything. Kabuto began to pace, muttering to himself.

"You are not rid of Orochimaru. My brother is not capable of harnessing that mans power. I could, but that is only because I have Hachibi (hope I got that right ^^;) in me."

"Kabuto, will you calm down, you'll give yourself another attack!" Saiya said, tugging on his pants. Kabuto looked down at her, then sighed.

"I'm sorry." He said as he sat. "But no I am anxious."

"Maybe you can come with us then when we return." Naruto suggested. Even Sai gave the ninja an odd look. "I know it seems off, and you are a wanted nin, but you could most likely win back your freedom with any information you could give us on Orochimaru and your brother." Naruto grinned. Sakura shook her head, it was like being back in the Forest of Death, only this time, Kabuto wouldn't change. He'd stay the same.

* * *

Sorry once again for the long wait, but I've lost track of where this thing was going. I had something good, but I lost it DX no worries, I shall not end this, I will finish. If anyone wants they can add a suggestion or even ask questions. Anything to get this over used brain of mine to move! Thankx again for your time an patience! (sorry this one moved a little fast ^^;)


	19. ON HOLD

I have lost allinspiration for the story, but i plan on finishing it. I am going to remove the story after a week or so and plan it out a little more carefully. I hate to leave stories hanging, so i WILL finish this. i have a few other stories to finish before hand though, such as my POkemon fanfic and a two part Getbackers one that i am currently doing as well.

I'm very sorry about this, but i'll get around to re-writing/finishing this at some point.

Thank you for reading, and i apreciate all the reviews.

Thakx for your time, Cauryn


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